JAM: Blue Hayes

 On Saturday 2nd May, the Trumpet at Bilston is hosting a gig by award winning Saxophonist, and disciple of the British Jazz Legend Tubby Hayes, Simon Spillet.

I imagine that space will be limited so book up now to avoid disappointment.

JAM: Climax at the Trumpet

 

To mark International Jazz Day, and the end of Jazz Appreciation Month, the Trumpet at Bilston is hosting a Jazz Jam. The Trumpet has a long history of bringing Jazz to the West Midlands and over the years has paid host to many artists. Not only good Jazz, but the Trumpet hosts a fine selection of real ales, including Holden’s Golden Glow, and Holden’s Black Country Mild.

The event kicks off at 8:30. It is free entry, but please contribute to the collection and buy a couple of raffle tickets.

For more details on the Venue, the Event, and future events, click here.

JAM: Recent Purchases

 As Jazz Appreciation Month moves towards its end, I shall share a couple of albums I have recently bought.

These are:

Dave Brubeck Quartet: Jazz Impressions of Japan.

The Jazztet with Art Farmer & Benny Golson: Four Classic Albums. This is a budget priced set from Avid Records featuring the albums, Meet the Jazztet, At Birdhouse, Here & Now, and Another Git Together.

Bob Brookmeyer and Friends, featuring Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Gary Burton and Elvin Jones.

Keith Jarrett: Expectations.

Here is Bob Brookmeyer playing Misty.

Personnel:

Bob Brookmeyer: Trombone

Stan Getz: Tenor Saxophone

Herbie Hancock: Piano

Ron Carter: Double Bass

Elvin Jones: Drums

JAM: The Last Parade

 Here is the Parade for the 2019 Upton Upon Severn Jazz Festival (plus a few seconds of my finger). The Parade took place on the Saturday and launched the day's music. Included in the Parade is the youth band Juke's Jazz Society (formerly known as Second Line), and it is being lead by the late Malcolm Hogarth, who was a bit of a friend and mentor to me.

This would prove to be the last Upton Jazz Festival parade, as post covid there have numerous changes to the running of the festival. Will the parade ever return? I don't know, I would imagine hosting it is a bit of a logistical and burocratic nightmare, and probably costs a pretty penny too.

JAM: Upton Jazz Festival 2012 Diary: Day 3, Part 2

 I consulted my programme to see what the next gig for the afternoon was and to my delight it was the band Tipitina, a band I remember seeing last year and immensely enjoying and the offering under the bridge didn’t really grab my fancy, so I opted to remain within the confines of the Jazz City quagmire. I nipped over to the facilities to go through my switch of jackets, this was a different tweed jacket, one slightly longer in the sleeve compared to the previous one and I believe it was slightly lighter to wear as well. Instead of the bow tie and Fez, I donned an equally awesome saxophone tie and my trilby, so I still had awesome head gear on. I returned to the bar and purchased another pint before venturing over to Fat’s Place where the gig was about to begin. This particular performance was a quintet consisting of drums, bass, guitar, piano and a vocals/guitar, the general appearance for the male members of the band seemed to be something of a continuation of the speakeasy/duke-joint dress code as presented by 52 Skidoo. Only in this case it was slightly more refined and dare I say it, even mildly Chicagoan gangster-esque, with the spats, jackets and hats all ready on display. The band was called Tipitina, fronted by the very glamorous Guitarist/Vocalist Debbie Jones dressed in a rather fetching (and short, not that I’m complaining) dress depicting what I think were either Roses or Poppies, red flowers anyway. Again, it was somewhat disappointing to see that the crowd was on the thin side again, but never mind, the show must go on and so it did. I must admit I can’t recall the exact order the numbers were played in but I shall endeavour to list as many as I can, at this stage I had abandoned my note pad keeping an eye on events due to a combination of too much beer probably making my handwriting worse than normal, the lack of a surface to writing clearly on, a desire to stick with the show and the fact that my pen had ran out of ink and the replacement I picked up was luminous green! So it was hard to read what I wrote, anyways whatever the reason from now on I am relying on memory so I apologise if I incorrectly recall some of the details of the numbers. My attention was brought to attention by some melancholic chords riffing on the piano and Debbie began to explain the number they were about to perform, from the chords I’d heard I mistakenly thought that they were going to play a Nina Simone number called “I Think It's Going to Rain Today”, which would of been somewhat ironic. Debbie went on to explain that she was going to perform a Randy Newman number which was written about a major flood in the late nineteen twenties and had subsequently gone on to become something of an anthem for New Orleans after the tragic consequences caused by Hurricane Katrina, the song was Louisiana 1927 a very powerful and emotional piece which had a great sense of resonance for me. Debbie sang the piece beautifully and the band laid out some great support with a notable piano solo by Justin Randall and there was much appreciation from the audience, the band followed this up with a few more lively number and then went to perform a tune from a very recent artist whose somewhat erratic behaviour and personal problems were unfairly utilised by the press to over shadow her immense talent. The artist I am of talking of is the late great, Amy Winehouse. The number in question was one of Winehouse’s own compositions called “You Know That I’m No Good”, the second track from her chart topping album Back to Black. With the power of hindsight it seems the song has a somewhat melancholic edge about the lyrics, reflecting her own observations of herself and the life she was living. This was performed once again very finely by Debbie, I recall that she also performed the song at last year’s festival along with the Billy Taylor number “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free”, a number made famous for UK audiences as it was the signature tune for the long running Film review series presented by Barry Norman and later Jonathon Ross. Anyway back to the present, the number to me proves what a talented lyricist the late Amy was and goes on to show what a loss to the music world her untimely death was. The performance of this number produced a somewhat bizarre remark from a member of the audience that it was disgusting that the band was performing music by an alcoholic drug addict… okay that’s a really interesting attitude to take at a jazz festival isn’t it?

The band started up with the piece of music that the band got it's name from is, this was an instrumental piece with Debbie picking up her guitar for a few bars. I believe this drew to the first set to a close and Debbie announced that she had CD’s on sale, so I proceeded to the stage to purchase the CD, inquiring first as to whether it featured the Amy Winehouse number which it did. I purchased the CD and it will no doubt become part of my car play list once the CD player eject button decides to work again and I can put a new CD in. I went to the bar and purchased a beer while listening to Claire go through her routine again, I was fortunate enough while in the bar to have a quick word with Debbie and the band promising I’d put some details about the gig on my blog. Better late than never I say...

I stayed for the rest of the gig and gave hearty applause to all the numbers and I may even of strutted my funky stuff once more but I can’t quite recall now. If any member of the band thought one of the audience was having an epileptic fit it stands a good chance that I did…. After that successful gig I nipped out to use the facilities once more and noted with a pang of melancholy that the end was drawing near as the purple dust of twilight began its descent upon Jazz City and the various stall holders were beginning to dismantle their pitches, what does one do in this circumstance? One goes to the bar of course!

While I visited the bar and purchased a pint of the ale “All That Jazz”, I started having a chat with one of the stewards who must of been around sixty and appeared to be donning what could best be described as a dark blue Compo hat and we had a long chat over the course of events at the festival. One of the subjects which arouse was the area of what could be deemed appropriate repertoire for the festival. Now, using the previous band Tipitina as an example who utilised composers like Amy Winehouse and Randy Newman for their act, is it right to use the term Jazz for them. While it may be true that Randy Newman is by no means a Jazz composer, with Amy Winehouse I think there is a strong argument to classify her as Jazz, but if you think about it a lot of standards were not written by ‘Jazz composers’. People have no problem listening to Charlie Parker play ‘Summertime’ or Coleman Hawkins play ‘Body and Soul’ and call it jazz, which if you think about is pretty much the same scenario. ‘Summertime’ was written as an operatic lullaby by Gershwin for “Porgy and Bess”, where as ‘Body and Soul’ was a pop song introduced in a Broadway revue called “Three’s a Crowd”. So as far as I’m concerned the origin of the source material is unimportant, it is the treatment given which makes it important, after all you can have a Polka version of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit” if you really wanted to… Bands like Tipitina clearly embody the spirit of New Orleans and bring that bearing into jazz which is very much the child of the music of New Orleans and has developed ever since it left Louisiana and journeyed northwards to Chicago, to have a set idea of what material can be used is very limiting for a music style and would only result in stagnation. As the old Jazz standard goes there’s gonna be some changes made, this year I noted how there has been a decrease in the level of Traditional and New Orleans style Jazz and increase in more Swing, Mainstream and Chicago style acts. Like death and taxes, change is one of the few certainties in this world. Realising this conversation was probably getting a tad heated we changed the topic to what acts we’d seen and I bought up a tale of how about ten years ago I went to see Acker Bilk at a club called the Sands up in Gainsborough, by a rather bizarre coincidence I was staying in the same hotel as him. I was up in the gallery for the gig and shared the table with the chap who I assumed was either his driver or agent, after the gig was over I was returned to the hotel and got mobbed by the dog and ended up having a drink with the hotel owners and Acker Bilk himself, who even bought me a pint, Banks’s Bitter I think. Well we got talking first about watercolour paintings and then somehow onto the subject of TV Chef Fanny Craddock, I recounted that while a lot of children used to hide behind the sofa from Doctor Who I used to hide from Fanny Craddock, she was scary! This made Acker bring up an anecdote about how one show Craddock had made some doughnuts and at the end of the show, as was the tradition, her husband would come on and try the food. He tasted them and addressed the camera stating “We hope you enjoyed tonight’s show and for those of you baking, I hope all your doughnuts end up looking like Fanny’s.” Quite!!!!  Whether this is true or just a television urban myth I do not know, but never let the facts get in the way of a good anecdote eh? Well from this discussion of TV chefs we somehow got onto the subject of the young lady I was courting at the time, a nice dark haired Christian girl named Hannah, after a brief talk about how long I’d know her Mr Bilk seemed to get a little rather too interested her and started to inquire about… well let’s say her lady parts. I think this was my cue to fake a yawn and retire for the night so I did. Talking to the steward who had met Bilk on many occasions apparently after a few drinks he can get a bit like that, he then went on to tell a few tales about Terry Lightfoot and Chris Barber. It was at this moment we were joined by Claire Taylor and we had a very long talk about various music artists we liked and how she chose her material. I noted the time and had to make a choice of where to go, I could either go to Fat’s Place and see Fat Sam’s Band again or brave the shuttle bus to Hanley Castle School to see Bev Pegg’s Good Time Jazz Band, a familiar staple of Jazz Club 90 at the Harp. Bev Pegg’s act is always very good, he plays guitar and banjo and adds vocals, it is usually a quartet or quintet and he peppers his act with plenty of tongue in cheek humour. The jokes may be corny but they are always very entertaining in a Carry On sort of way, the jokes are a good sign to show how drunk you are as the more you drink the funnier they get. Well, consulting the times it became a moot point, I had a taxi booked at 10:30 and by the time I’d got to Bev Pegg’s gig it would be the end of his first set, then it would be 10 before he was back on and I’d have to get back to Upton for the taxi so Fat Sam’s it was.

This occasion he was wearing a purple suit in place of the red or the white one. The gig was good as ever, as I arrived he was playing the Lionel Hampton number Airmail Special and followed it up with that a Glenn Miller Medley consisting at least of “In the Mood”, “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” and “I Got A Gal in Kalamazoo”. Kalamazoo, being sung with an English ‘Zed’ as opposed to an American ‘Zee’ which while geographically accurate inferred with some of the rhymes. Next up was East of the Sun, quite a common big band number which I think was definitively done by Tommy Dorsey with vocals by the then wet-behind-the-ears Frank Sinatra. The Dorsey theme continued with his signature tune “I’m Getting Sentimental Over”, then a change of pace with “Jump” a tune which made its big band debut on the rather cringe worthy Paul Anka album “Rock Swings”. Well, it was better than that version at least with those of able frame in the audience jumping on cue. Sadly by now the crowd was very thin on the ground and it looked like the festival was ending with a whimper, oh well. With the set complete I returned to the bar and big Laura and the steward adieu for this year, polished off a pint of Mild and headed into town for my taxi. Upon arrival in my hotel I realised that somewhere along the way my hat had gone AWOL, I checked the taxi company in the morning to no avail and checked around where I was dropped off. Bummer, one hat gone but least I still had my Fez. 

 

Epilogue

So what are my thoughts now looking back upon the festival? Well, I certainly had a good time and it was a shame that the weather did cause so much disruption to the gigs. I’m thinking that they won’t be able to afford another year like that so here’s hoping for a sunnier festival next year, although I’ll invest in some Wellington boots just to be safe. Personally, I think they need to spread the gigs around the town a bit more, in previous years the memorial hall, the primary school and the sports club have all contributed to hosting events and I feel this would aid the town a lot. I also think that the festival could do with a gig by the Oxford based band the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, who would be worth it just for the name, despite the fact that their music is excellent. Also some proper gigs for Jamie Brownfield and the Blue Monday jazz Quartet, by all means have them in the youth tent but I think it’d be inspiration for aspiring youngsters to see these guys have a proper gig. One think I would really like, please bring the Bill Bailey Jam Session back into Tommy’s bar. The audience would be greater and people I think would be much more willing to contribute as it would be slap bang in the middle of the festival, so Upton Jazz Festival until next year…. Be seeing you.

JAM: Alex Clarke

 Here is British Jazz Saxophonist and rising star Alex Clarke playing "Out of the Woods," the title track, and single, from  her second album, which is a tribute to Saxophonist Phil Woods, whom is likely best known for his sax riff on Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are."

JAM: Upton Jazz Festival 2012 Diary: Day Three Part One

 

I awoke in good humour and started my daily ritual, booked myself a taxi at the slightly better time of 10:30pm and checked to make sure my camera battery was charged, for a change in attire today I went to tweed jacket number two and switched my fez for my trilby. I stopped off at the Costa to purchase an extra large gingerbread latte for my long hike to Upton upon Severn, noting with some ironic amusement the huge swelling of black cloud filling the sky. However, it would seem that my luck seemed to be about to change as it didn’t rain and the saw finally got his hat on, unfortunately for me about a mile and a half into my walk I started to develop blisters on my feet… so this walk became rather painful. Like a true Englishman I soldiered on to Upton, noting with some amusement how on the day a good Samaritan offering a lift would be nice no such offer was made, unlike the previous two days, once in Upton I hobbled across to the Best of Youth Jazz to give my kippers a quick steam. The tent was hosting a sort of music lesson for the students and while no doubt useful for the students was not really what I was there for, so I hobbled away with one of the stewards making sure I was ok as I hobbled and went to the music shop and complete my purchase of the Piccolo for my sister, then went across to Tommy’s Bar and nursed a single half pint of mild for about an hour because it seemed I had moved on too early and my feet were killing me. Once I manned up, I proceeded across the bridge to listen to the gig by the ever brilliant Millennium Eagle Jazz Band, a band I intended to see anyway but was given double motivation as I was informed by my good friend Mike Yorke via text message that an old friend of his was playing at the gig. The front line of the band was Matt Palmer on Reeds & vocals, Chris Etherington whom I know from Severnside on Guitar, Banjo & vocals and Ian Bateman (Mike’s friend) on Trombone. As I expected the set was excellent, starting off with a lovely little ballad called “Love Letters in the Sand”, the audience were encouraged to join in on the chorus to ‘help him remember the words…’ this familiar banter with this band and the Severnside often started by Etherington who is no above a gentle ribbing of himself either. For the next number Matt Palmer switched to the Soprano Saxophone which as I guessed was that Sidney Bechet classic “Petite Fleur”, a number which was a huge hit for Monty Sunshine and Chris Barber in the late fifties. This was followed by a standard which hails back all the way to Jelly Roll Morton, “Doctor Jazz”, which was performed with an introduction verse that was totally unknown to me,. I assumed that because there were a number of families about for the gig that they stuck to the usual closing lines as opposed to the comic reference to LSD George Melly in his heyday added to the song on live performances. As the band started up a rendition of “Sweet Sue” I ventured up to the beer tent and had a pint of a lovely tawny ale called ‘Feel Good’ which I drank as an instruction to my feet. While at the bar I started talking to a couple with a black Staffordshire bull terrier whose temperament reminded me of my friend’s dog Amber, daft as a brush. People often complain about Staffordshire Bull Terriers being viscous, well of course they can be all breed of dog can be, but this negative image has being forced upon the breed by unscrupulous owners who treat them badly and train to be viscous in an attempt to try and present a hard image of themselves. Anyways, as I talked to them it became apparent that the relocation of certain venues to buildings within the town had posed a problem for their canine companion who was not allowed in these venues now. I noted with interest how the minute they opened a bag of crisps the dog sprang to life tail wagging like a mad thing, Ben and Lady are much the same when I open the biscuit tin. As conversation unfolded it became apparent they were here more for the wide selection of beverage rather than the music in its own right… seems an expensive way of going to a beer festival, I believe they said they were from Kent. After our little conversation I returned to the band just as Chris Etherington led the band into a spiritual number called “Let the Light of the Lighthouse Shine on Me”, during which he asked for the audience to give the clap… on beats two and four. Being of semi Jewish origin I moved on at this point and proceeded to venue six, the function room at Lizzie’s Boathouse only to be informed by the steward that it was full, it was only a small venue after all. In previous years Venue Six had been a marquee in the King’s Head pub, but it seems the pub no longer had a marquee so I missed out here. A pity as drifting down the stairwell I could hear some beautiful George Shearing style piano playing, notably “The Man I Love”. I decided to make the best of this down time and purchased a sandwich from the co-op and made a brief pit stop at the Plough where the jukebox was playing a series of hits from the nineteen sixties, after a while I realised I recognised the playlist order from a compilation I have at home. I purchased a pint of that fine dark ale Hobgoblin and met a familiar face from the last couple of years, last year he was on crutches and now he had a walking stick, so looks like he’s recovered somewhat. Once I’d caught up and drained my pint I returned to bridge where the band was starting its second set. The opening number was a wonderful rendition of “My Mother’s Eyes” a big hit for Kenny Ball, there seemed to be quite a lot of Kenny Ball associated numbers flying round the festival this year. I confused the steward again by having another cup of tea and listened to a amusing if somewhat politically incorrect number called “I’ve Got a Bimbo Down on a Bamboo Isle”, which pretty much is a song about having a beautiful black dancing girl out on a tropical island. I stayed for the remainder of the gig and the numbers were excellent but too numerous to list but it lead to a climax with the ever popular number “Ice Cream”, a silly novelty number which has a good level of audience participation in it so it always is a fun end to a gig, they then performed a small coda with the infamous drinking song “Show Me the Way to Go Home”. Once the gig was over and the crowds began to disperse I made my introductions to Ian Bateman for Mr. Yorke and discovered they were in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra together at one point. I then returned to Jazz City where I was drawn to the Best of Youth Jazz tent where a band was playing the Glenn Miller classic “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree”. I believe this was a school band but I may be wrong about that as there were youth bands about, the Glenn Miller number was followed by a very talented young lady singing “Beyond the Sea”. She had a cracking set of pipes and if she wants too she will go very far, later on she sang the Chet Baker classic ‘My Funny Valentine” and the band concluded with a lad of about eleven leading a rendition of “Hit the Road Jack”. The band had an encore in which the young lady returned to the microphone and the announcer informed us she was going to sing the Julie London/Frank Sinatra/Tony Bennett et al number “Fly Me to the Moon”, only to have the young lady beckon him across and whisper something in his ear. A moment later he returned to his microphone and informed us in fact she was going to sing “Come Fly with Me”, a source of great amusement amongst the audience and band. Maybe it’s a sign of my cynicism, but as I get older the more and more I tend to like dozy people.

I returned to the Tommy’s Bar and had a fine pint of Mild before venturing on to Fat’s Place to watch the end of the first set of a band called 52 Skidoo. I wasn’t sure what sort of band I was expecting, I think judging from the name I was thinking it would a jump jive affair like the previous year’s Jiveoholics, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a trio consisting of Piano, Guitar & Vocals and drums. The guitarist sitting centre stage was wearing a hat not to dissimilar to “Al Capone’s” and reminded me that the old chap with the spoons had still not made an appearance yet. The band started up a piano feature which was played in the Harlem stride style, after several bars I suddenly had a giggling fit as the tune to me sounded somewhat like the theme tune to cartoon which was a staple of my childhood, “Inspector Gadget”. I expressed this observation to several of my fellow attendees but alas I feel the generation gap was in full force there. I crossed over to the bar and refilled my pint and queried with Laura if she had heard the tune, she had and agreed it did sound like Inspector Gadget, sadly he did not close of his number with a frustrated cry of “I’ll get you next time Gadget!” The band was now settling for their break so I had to go and satisfy my curiosity so I went to the pianist and inquired, the minute the words piano solo came out of my mouth he smiled and informed me it was a Fats Waller number called "Zonky" and it does indeed sound like Inspector Gadget. I wonder if it was intentionally ripped off by the cartoon makers or not. My curiosity now satisfied I went back to the Caribbean Soul Food stall and had another Goat curry, this time with black peas and rice and settled in the tent as the second half began. The set opened with the seminal Fats Waller number “Blue Turning Grey Over You” which was immediately followed by another Fats Waller number, his most famous composition “Ain’t Misbehaving”…. hmm I thought to myself. That’s three Fats Waller numbers in close proximity, most odd. There then was a change of pace with a somewhat surprising choice of number given the format of the band, the number was swing anthem “Sing Sing Sing” during which the drummer doubled up on clarinet. Normally “Sing Sing Sing” is performed as a big band number; it was perhaps most famously performed by Benny Goodman with a memorable drum rhythm laid down by drum legend Gene Krupa. Another unusual thing about “Sing Sing Sing” is that despite its name it is normally performed as an instrumental piece, but on this occasion the vocal refrain was performed by the guitarist. Now I must admit despite their best efforts for me the number didn’t really work as a small group number, it needs the swells and rises of a big band to really give the piece the momentum it deserves. Once they’d panged the skins for the climax of the Goodman hit, they returned to another Fats Waller associated number; “Hold Tight, I want Some Seafood Momma”, this was excellently performed and was far more suited to the bands format. It was at this moment that I decided I would consult my programme and look up the band’s entry, this informed me that 52 Skiddo’s mission statement was to present the Harlem stylings of Fats Waller in the style they were intended to be performed. It’s amazing what you can learn if you do a bit of reading isn’t it? This was followed by another number which the pianist informed us was written when Fats was in an emotional and unhappy state…. he’d not had a drink for two months. I can’t recall what the number was but it might have been "The Minor Drag" or "Harlem Fuss", anyway this closed off the set. The band was very good but I think it was perhaps a mistake to have them on the premier stage for the festival, for such a small band a more intimate venue would have been more appropriate I think. I also was beginning to note that the numbers in the crowd were on the decline, whether it be due to the issue with the weather and mud or just because it was Sunday afternoon and reality was dawning in the morning with people returning to work I don’t know, but it looked as if the festival may end with a whimper rather than a bang. I went across to the beer tent where Claire Taylor was starting up her routine again, I did ask if she knew the classic song “If I Ruled the World” but it appears she didn’t or at the very least did not have the backing for it. I do hope that next year if she is performing she has a band with her, even if it is just a piano or guitar it would help lift the atmosphere and also allow for greater variation in routine.

Comment from Today

So, was I being a complete loon on the Zonky front? Is the Inspector Gadget theme similar or do I need to have my ears testing? Here is Zonky, played by Fats Waller himself.

Upton Jazz Festival 2012 Diary: Day 2 Part 2

 Once my lunch was over I proceeded over to “Fat’s Place” where ‘Pete Allen’s Traditional Jazz Seven were performing, as I entered the tent they were playing the Bix Beiderbecke associated number “At the Jazz Band Ball”, unsurprisingly there was no Bass Saxophone in the ensemble to recreate Rollini’s solo, but there was a vocal refrain which I never knew existed bridging the beginning and end sections. Amongst the line up was once again was drumming ace John Peters helping steer the band through a very solid session. Next up the band played a Dixieland standard called “I Want A Little Girl”, which despite its rather dubious sounding name is a rather touching little ballad and about loneliness… perhaps to follow up that wonderfully titled piece they should of done “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” and really set the factor to seedy…. Instead they performed another well known Dixieland standard called the "Darktown Strutter’s Ball", I have various recordings of this including ones by Ella Fitzgerald, Sid Philips and my personal favourite being the one by Harry Roy. The band then played a few more numbers which I sadly do not seem to have noted down, then I moved on.

First up I used the facilities, then as I went to make my way out of Jazz City I made a quick call at a Samaritans stall and purchased a copy of John Le Carre’s The Constant Gardener to add to my ever expanding ‘to read’ list. Once off the main campus and on my way to the road I spotted that the Lamarotte boys had set up an little unofficial performance on the river bank, the only saw of amplification being used was a megaphone attached to a microphone strapped around the rear side of the Soprano Saxophone players waist, so you could say the band was playing out of his arse! As I got there they had just finished off a number and started up a lovely little number called “I Still Love You All”, it is a smashing number which was famously recorded in the trad jazz boom of the late fifties/early sixties by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Once this number was drawing to a close, I spotted Laura from the bar approaching the boys with a wad of plastic glasses and two four point jugs of ale, perhaps I should of pointed out there were nine people in the band but I guess that would be churlish. Once the boys had had their beer break and had a small chin-wag with some of the audience they went on to perform a little known number called "Boodle-am-Shake", this is something of a novelty number which I remember hearing being performed by Acker Bilk, Sandy Brown and Terry Lightfoot on the album “Clarinet Jamboree”. The lyrics are absolute nonsense of course but the tune is rather catchy and fun, if you like Dixieland and clarinet players I strongly suggest you buy this album. Once this impromptu gig had finished I crossed the bridge, pausing to try and scrape some of the Jazz City mud off my feet and went to the bridge bar to refill my pint, this took several attempts as the two beers I first chose ran out on me as they pulled them and were rather cloudy. I settled on what was really a Hobson’s choice for the moment on the Teme Valley beer ‘This’, yup you guessed correctly, they had beers called “This”, “That” and “T’Other”. I did take a photo of the badge for “T’Other” which was in the shape of a finger pointing at the barrel next to it… surely that’s not a good advertising design, odd thing was that as I photographed the badge my camera said it detected a blink, how on Earth does an inanimate object blink????? Once I had consumed my ale and had a brief chat with the barman whose name I still did not find out, I ventured into the town of Upton once again and went to the social club where former Harp regular Bill Bailey was hosting a gig and jam session. I was partially hoping to see if I would encounter my friend and mentor Malcolm Holgarth, but alas it was not to be. I arrived up at the social club towards the end of the gig which was very cramped as the room was not huge, they were playing "Royal Garden Blues" with some Louis Armstrong style vocals, the tune then merged with Duke Ellington’s "C-Jam Blues" before switching to "Shake, Rattle and Roll" before reverting back to the "Royal Garden Blues". While I was at this gig I purchased a pint of the ever excellent Wye Valley Bitter and for the first time since Thursday night had a pint of beer in an actual glass as opposed to a plastic. Well I say plastic, the cup declared it wasn’t plastic but a biodegradable imitation of plastic which is a good thing as there is way too much waste which can’t be broken down clogging up our green and pleasant isle. Well the band finished off their set with Kenny Ball’s number ‘Midnight in Moscow’, a big hit which got to number 4 and 2 in the UK and USA billboard charts respectively, I had a weird experience because I could of sworn blind Rodney Bewes (Bob Ferrries from The Likely Lads), was standing next to me. Obviously it wasn’t him as the man here was too young to be him, but he looked like him a few years older than in the show, I joked to him about this hoping he wouldn’t get offended. Happily he didn’t and was used to it, and was quite surprised I knew who Rodney Bewes was!

No, it's not Rodney Bewes. This photo is actually from the following year's festival.

Once I had consumed my pint I started to make my way back to the bridge, stopping briefly to talk to some lads and lasses of around my age who were quite well dressed and recommend a couple of gigs for them to go to, once at the bridge I nipped into the portaloo and changed into my Tweed jacket and Bow tie ready for the evening’s festivities. Now the amusing thing about these portaloos is that in a superficial way they resemble a police box, or if you prefer, the TARDIS, but unlike the TARDIS these aren’t bigger on the inside and are very cramped inside, especially if your getting changed. Once I was in my evening attire, I donned my Fez and got the barman to photo me as I posed for a photo as Matt Smith’s Doctor, I later captioned it “No Doctor, that isn’t the TARDIS”.

Roger Marks’ Cornish Armada Jazzband started their performance meaning that shortly at the appropriately named venue, the fantastic Edinburgh originated Fat Sam’s Band were due on soon. I took a few snaps of the Roger Marks’ band and moved back to the Jazz City quagmire which was quite bad once again, especially on the way to the entrance to Fat’s Place. I arrived just as the band was beginning to play and I was somewhat surprised to see that the band leader had forgone his usual white and black checked suit for a plain red suit. This may well of been due to the issues with mud, but I do recall that last year the suit was looking quite faded with the white looking grey, on the upside he still had his white clarinet. Noting that the audience response to their first number was a bit muted, the band leader suggested that we “all close our and eyes and join hands to see if we can contact the living.” Which did make me smile if no one else, to get people hep to the jive he led the band into a rip-roaring performance of Cab Calloway’s famous signature tune “Minnie the Moocher”, a tune which thanks to its inclusion in the cult hit The Blues Brothers, is recognised across the generations. This did help get the jive going a little and they followed the number up with Louis Jordan’s “Ain’t Nobody here But Us Chickens”, this prompted several people to get on to the dance floor and boogie. While this number was being played my Fez did the rounds on the dancers and one of the lads sheepishly admitted to me it was rather embarrassing that his dad was a better dancer then him. Once the number was over the lad’s dad returned from the floor and thanked him for the lone of his wife. As the next number started up, the dad returned to the floor with a young lady who could of been either his younger wife/girlfriend or his daughter, I didn’t think it my place to pry. They were somewhat disconcerted to find that the number they were dancing to was a semi-original self-titled piece called “Fat Sam’s Band”, I say semi original because the tune is in fact “Old McDonald” with the farm yard lyrics replaced with details about his band. Once this childishly fun number closed, the band slowed down the pace with a rendition of my favourite ballad; Hoagy Carmichael’s "Stardust". This opened with a fantastic unaccompanied trumpet solo of the opening version before the rest of the band kicked in for the main melody, the number closing off with more focus on the trumpet but this time with rhythm section accompaniment. Once the melody had settled, the tempo got more upbeat and more jivers took to the dance floor, evidently my level of consumption had not reached the saturation point as I had not yet had the urge to go and strut. After this number the band went to intermission and I popped out to have a look around some of the stalls as opposed to heading back to the bar. I called in on the music stall where I noticed that there was a piccolo on sale for £150, I corrected the guy who was manning the stall for the moment who believe it was £15…hey I’m an honest man. Now the reason I was looking at the piccolo was because my sister played the flute for a long time and often talked about getting s piccolo, so I thought it would make a nice belated birthday gift for her as I haven’t bought her a good birthday day present since… well ever. So I paid a deposit and returned to the beer tent to refuel on the Dragon’s Blood, since there was still time I made my way over to another stall. This was a music themed novelty tent and the lady running the stall recognised that I was wearing one of her bow-ties, I purchased a little saxophone pin-badge for (my then-partner) Mary, and had a quick chat with the lady. Turns out she used to be good friends with the late John Burnett, a trumpeter/bandleader who was a frequent regular at the harp until his sudden and unexpected death in 2004. He used to front a band called John Burnett’s Jazz Bandits which was a little more boppy and mainstream then most of the Harp bands of the time, the band sort of continues under the direction of reedsman Pete Clayton under the name Pete Clayton’s Jazz Friends and frequently play at the Waterworks Jazz Club in Birmingham. Once this little catch up was completed I returned to Fat’s Place for the remainder of the Fat Sam’s Band gig, once it was over I purchased a T-Shirt and a couple of CD’s two for myself and one for my friend Amy which I got signed for her.

Once this gig was over I went across the bridge and had a bit of quick chin wag with Laura and the other bar girl before nipping out to the local fish and chip shop for my tea. I had a battered burger and chips, something I don’t think I’ve had since I was aged in single digits and felt that perhaps I should just have someone inject fat directly into my arteries, doing my best to be a nice chap I also bought a bag of chips for the girls at the bar. By now the joys of the British summertime were showing their full due as the rain had started once again, ensuring that the quagmire would get more stick for the remainder of the evening. Luckily the gig I was waiting for was not in Jazz City but under the bridge so I had a relatively easy time of waiting in the beer tent for Carl Sinclair’s second gig of the festival. While I was waiting I was joined at the bar by Carl Sinclair’s brother who is a children’s entertainer and was keeping Laura and the bar staff amused making balloon animals, one of which was a dog with a puppy in its belly, must admit he certainly can shape balloon animals. Now despite being told he was Carl’s brother I would of guessed it as there was a strong family resemblance between the two… although he is rather more corpulent then Carl. He borrowed my Fez and did a few Tommy Cooper poses for camera, a not totally inappropriate exercise in this case. Now due to the previously mentioned issue with the Taxi booking my intended plan to see the Big Chris Barber Band had to be jettisoned so I stayed under the bridge for the Carl Sinclair gig, a wise move as the rain was still beating down and the Jazz city quagmire would no doubt be intensifying. Once again it was the quartet and he kicked off his set with the Ray Charles associated number “What’d I Say” followed by a rather bizarre choice, the Monkee’s “Now I a Believer” played in a suitable blues boogie-woogie style. After that he played homage to Winfred Attwell with “The Poor People of Paris”, a number I associate more with Kenny Ball. While this was being played I nipped off for a drink and this may come as a shock to some but I actually had a cup of Earl Grey, I returned to the gig just as Carl Sinclair started a rendition of a number called “My Babe” (I think) which as I listened to made me think of the criminally over locked pianist and vocalist Mose Allison, an artist who you could say was a musical child of Hoagy Carmichael. It took me a few moments as the caffine cleared the synapses a little, on Mose Allison’s album ‘The Way of the World’ the opening track is called ‘My Brain’ and is based on this tune. Needless to say, the lyrics of the Allison song are far more intelligent and witty. This was the last number for the set and I made my way out to the high street and ran into the lads I met from outside the social club and we went on a last minute hike around the area photographing as many people as we could wearing the fez, a surprising number of people were up for it including an Irish Setter. There is something rather ridiculously amusing about a dog wearing a fez! We made a brief detour to the Jazz City quagmire and got a few people there including most of the band members of Lamarotte, whom each thought it was a fun idea to gurn various faces for the photos. It was then I had to leave for my taxi and discovered how much of a quagmire the pitch was becoming as my shoe came off in the mud and I somehow managed to keep my balance hopping while pulling my shoe out the mud. So my second day at Upton drew to a close earlier then I hoped, it was a shame I never got to see the Big Chris Barber Band but from what I heard on the grapevine the next day, it would seem I didn’t miss out too much. First of all there was quite a lot of queuing to enter the venue, he spot out a bit of time talking rather than playing as well apparently. Well, perhaps an early night was good for me, once back at the hotel I downloaded the pictures and videos of the day, made myself a cup of Pukka Night Time tea and caught up with my book.

Upton Jazz Festival 2012 Diary: Day 2 Part 1

 

I rose from my pit at about 9am after a surprisingly deep and undisturbed sleep, went through to the bathroom to indulge in two of the three S’s a gentlemen’s morning ritual involves, picked up my discarded garments from the night before and was surprised to find that my clothing was weighed down by what felt like a ton of change! If someone had attempted to mug me, all I’d need of done for self-defense would be to whack them with my tweed jacket! I dressed for the day and did my best to try and scrape off the small caking of mud which had adhered to my shoes over the course of the previous day. Once dressed, I tried to make plans for another late taxi for the evening but sadly for me there were only two options available 9:45pm or 1:30am. Being stuck between a rock and a crazy place I decided that going for the earlier Taxi was probably my best option; the down side of this being I would miss the festivals headlining act, the Big Chris Barber Band. A band I very much did want to see and am slightly concerned I may not now get the chance as the chap is 84. Never-mind, I told myself it’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes and the reports I would later hear from people, this may not have been such a unfortunate turn of events after all. As I made my exit from my digs I was somewhat surprised to find that Lamarotte, the band who closed the previous night under the bridge were staying at the Days Inn, here they were in full regalia sitting in reception. I was greeted with a friendly “Good Morning Man with Fez,” and I doffed an imaginary hat in polite acknowledgement. As I prepared myself for my long walk to Upton, I stopped off in a Costa Coffee for a Gingerbread Latte to provide me with some sustenance for the journey. As I made my way past the barrier and the air ambulance parked in the field I couldn’t help but notice that everywhere I look it was blissful sunshine… save for a very large black cloud uniquely positioned over Upton upon Severn. My walk that morning was joyfully uninterrupted by rain and I think I may well have made a bit of time on the journey that time around. As I took in my surroundings and approached a small village, I noticed of the farms had an old wooden shed selling vegetable products at quite a reasonable rate and an honesty box by the door, if I were a resident in that area I certainly would make good use of the generous offers on sale there. I arrived in town in time for the Jazz parade, which started at the church and made its way down to Jazz City. There was quite a crowd hovering there to see the parade, festival goers and residents alike, amongst their number I spotted reeds man James Evans who I’d dined with at Bracklesham Bay alongside singer Val Wiseman and the Jazz FM presenter/trombonist the late Campbell Burnap, I don’t think he recognised me though. I nipped into the near bay Co-op and purchased myself a sandwich and a couple of soft drinks, my original plan was to visit a local cafe and have a proper breakfast but time was against me. It was about now that I heard the familiar rhythms of the parade descending the high street with festival organizer “Sir” Alan sort of leading the band, which of course, was the ever brilliant Lamarotte. Preceding the parade were two people in a classic convertible, I think it was a Morgan but I’m not sure, the registration of which was WIN ME. Evidently the was car up for a competition but I never did find out the set up, quite what I’d of done if I had won it is anyone’s guess. Now one of the annoying things about the parade was how every time I tried to take a photo, some bugger walked in front just as I’m taking the picture whether they be passers-by or people trying to take photographs themselves, so I ended up with many pictures of people’s ears and random umbrellas it is unbelievable. I think this is what had put me off photographing the parade last year and the year before. I did finally get some reasonable pictures of the parade, as I observed it I couldn’t help be amused at how Sir Alan was hanging around the young ladies in Union Jack leotards, sparkly red hot pants and fish net stockings… atta boy Alan.

Having taken my snaps of the parade I crossed over to the vast muddy quagmire that was Jazz City, well least the sun was out for now. As I made my journey across the bridge I was tooted at by a passing traction engine, which was rather unexpected to say the least, takes all sorts to make a festival weekend. In comparison to the previous day, Jazz city was now a buzzing hive of activity with many new stalls having been set up, including a hat stall, a musical instrument tent and an Indian cuisine stall and many more people were milling about as best they could in the mud. Extra straw had been laid so the field wasn’t too bad to walk on at that point, I made my way over to the Best of Youth Jazz tent where the excellent Blue Monday Jazz Quartet were performing. This was a very good band I’d stumbled across at the festival last year almost by accident, and knowing they were on the listing I made a point of seeing them. As I took a seat at the back of the tent the band started performing Herbie Hancock’s seminal jazz classic ‘Watermelon Man’, after which they performed ‘Take Five’ complete with a lengthy drum solo to match the original recording but the solo here was far more organized and structured. Once they’d completed the tune they went on to play two original tunes, the first a piece called ‘Latin’, which unsurprisingly was a Bossa Nova number, this was followed by the much funkier “Wake Them up with Jeffery”, which they’d played the previous year. Apparently there is a story behind the name but they were reluctant to tell what it was, I did wonder if one of them had had a bad experience with the cast of children’s puppet show ‘Rainbow’. After this they played ‘Hit the Road Jack’ but had a minor false start as one of the band was playing in the wrong key for the first couple of bars, never mind guys happens to the best of us. I attended a gig not so long ago where the band performed some Glenn Miller and each member of the front line started playing a different tune! Aside from that minor setback the number was completed with the usual gusto and aplomb that I expected from the band. It was just a pity that their slot was so short, an unfortunate side effect of being in the Best of Youth Jazz program I guess. Here’s hoping “Sir” Alan hires them for a full gig in one of the main venues next year, in fact I may put that suggestion in an e-mail to the organisers for 2013. 

Once the Blue Monday Jazz Quartet had finished their excellent performance I went across to my second favourite venue of the festival; Tommy’s Bar, the beer tent, ordered myself a lovely pint of Mild to kick off my shift as it were. Singer Claire Taylor was performing in the bar at this moment, she is a good singer who rather unusually for the festival was performing to a backing track as opposed to support from a band. I sat outside on one of the benches, making the most of the sunshine while it was there and made my battle plan for the day. In the background Claire was singing ‘Autumn Leaves’ in a style not too dissimilar to the late Amy Winehouse.

I set off to check out the gig in Fat’s Place only to find the gig didn’t start for another forty-five minutes, so I made myself across the river to the bridge venue where Dave Stradwick’s Sussex Jazz Kings were performing. This was a six piece band performing very stoic New Orleans style jazz, it wasn’t exactly badly played but it didn’t seem anything special. The only number which really logged with me was a rendition of an Irving Berlin number called “When I Leave This World Behind”; after their set was done they announced that they were doing a Jazz coach tour of France in October and if anyone was interested to see them. I quite like the idea of a jazz coach tour, but I didn’t really fancy going on a tour with this particular band.
Amusingly as I approached the steward on my way out of the venue, he joked “You’re not properly dressed! Where’s your pint?” Perhaps I should be a little worried about that, a bit later on when I returned complete with beer in hand he did comment: “I recognize you now.”

I returned to the Jazz City quagmire and settled down with a pale amber ale by the Teme Brewery called “That”. Claire was starting up again and her first number was a stable of the Count Basie band when Joe Williams was guesting as vocalist, “Every Day I Have the Blues”. I thought now might be an appropriate time to get some food as I’d not really eaten the day before and over done the ale and so far today I had only eaten a cheese sandwich when I watched the parade. Once I’d finished my pint and wished the mud off my hands I went to the soul food stall to visit the Gil Scott-Heron look alike and purchased some consumables. I had a Caribbean style Goat Curry with dumplings and veg. It wasn’t curry in how you might expect Indian curry to taste but it was certainly very tasty and not at all spicy. I did spot a few people seemingly getting put off by the thought of eating goat, seems odd to me as people eat lamb so surely goat isn’t that much of a stretch of the imagination. It tasted unsurprisingly a bit like lamb, but with perhaps more of a pork edge to it, the dumplings were rather dry but perfectly adequate for soaking up the left over sauce.

JAM: Upton Jazz Festival Diary 2012, Day One, Part Two

 

As the Red Stripe gig drew towards its climax I escaped the Jazz city quagmire and returned to venue under the bridge to see the John Peters Jazz and Swing Band, as always the band is very good and certainly a prime example of his particular idiom in Jazz and a champion of some less well known material from over the ages, however I do find that his perception of what jazz somewhat narrow. To him it would seem anything post Swing is the music morons listen to and is not real jazz, an ironic thought considering in his gig last year he did a cover by that famous Rhythm and Blues shouter Wynonie Harris. Well, despite his somewhat limited tunnel vision of what Jazz is and can be, it was a very good gig and the performance was excellent as ever, don’t fault me on that. Back in2003 I had a wonderful time at Jazz weekend he organised down in Bracklesham Bay, but that as they say is another story... After listening to a few numbers and taking a few snaps I stopped off for a quick bite to eat which wasn’t anything exciting, just a nice juicy cheeseburger from the excellent burger stand stationed at the gig, which bizarrely had picture of Henry VIII on its sign, and I my made my way back to Jazz City and managed to not get too bogged down in the mud as I made my way to the beer tent. At the beer tent” Barbara and all that Jazz” were just finishing off their set, which fitted in between the intervals of the main tents... or as it was on this occasion, tent. While I purchased myself a beer, the name of which I can’t recall but it was a very nice blonde beer, I got chatting to a chap who looked the spit of a young Gil Scott-Heron, the man often credited as being the godfather of rap music, he was one of the guys running the ‘Soul Food’ stall.  I went over to Fats’ Place where the Carl Sinclair boogie band was about to play. Carl Sinclair is a performer who I am well acquainted with due to his various visits to Jazz club 90 at the Harp, normally there he just performs as a duo with Howard Smith on drums and they possess enough energy between the two of them to light up half of Shropshire. Here he was in a quartet with Terry Roberts, another familiar face from the Harp, on saxophone. Now the problem I find with Terry Roberts when he appears at the Harp is that the area where the Jazz is performed is rather small, and the band sits in a sort of alcove with a series of photos mounted on whitewashed walls, this as you can imagine can create a lot of reverb when dealing with brass and woodwind instruments, but Terry bless his little cottons, always plays his sax with the microphone directly into the bell... making it very loud! Here his technique was no different, but with it being with a tent with a capacity of six hundred it was not an issue this time. The rest of rhythm section included a bass player and Howard Smith once again on the drums, on this occasion in a change from the usual gigs I’ve seen Carl performed on a actual grand piano as opposed to a keyboard which must of been a nice change for him. Evidently by this stage I had reached a certain point in my ale saturation point as I donned my Fez and had the sudden urge to go and strut my funky stuff, at this point in the gig I was only one of two dancers, the other being an older gentlemen sporting a handlebar moustache which would of made Biggles proud, a red blazer which was adorned with at least fifteen badges from the Upton festivals over the years and a black trilby. Soon we were joined by many more dancers, evidently feeling that if we had the guts to get up and dance they might as well join us, there was as a result much silliness with my Fez being swapped around many times with many of the dancers, I danced with many different partners which is quite unusual for me as I rarely tap my foot let alone go full on boogie. As the gig drew too an end and everyone made a hasty departure toward towards Tommy’s Bar, I ventured across to Mr. Sinclair and purchased he latest two CDs and got one of them signed. I then went across to Tommy’s Bar trying my best not to get sucked down into the Quagmire as I went, fresh rainfall having caused the walk route to be somewhat treacherous, I purchased a pint of the appropriately named ale All That Jazz and decided I had had enough of the mud and once I’d checked out the band at Fat’s Place I’d go to the relatively mud free venue under the bridge. 

The next gig at Fat’s Place was the well known and quite popular “King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys”, more in the swing boogie variety. While their playing was very good and their dark blue suits look incredibly dapper, to date I have not yet warmed to the band and this occasion was no exception, so I politely waited for the number to finish and made may way out of Jazz City, across the river and back to venue four, under the bridge. I knew here I was in for a treat as the nine piece band marching band ‘Lamerotte’ was performing, this is a very engaging band from Holland of all places which was started in 1974 by a couple of the members just for fun. The write up in the Upton program sports them as being New Orleans Jazz with a wink, while they obviously don’t take themselves too seriously, the music they certainly do. There is something wonderfully everyday about the personnel in the band, maybe it’s the washboard in the rhythm section, the rare use of a sousaphone to add a rhythm or the gaudy costumes, there is a real sense of ordinary folk getting up and having a go... a bit like a skiffle band. The Fez very much made its presence felt here with many people taking the opportunity for a few snaps... cue many Tommy Cooper style poses. I noted with perhaps sad interest that as of yet I had not seen ‘Al Capone’ as he is known, or as I dub him “the scary man with spoons”. This man has been a regular staple of the festival as much as the Parade, the stalls and ‘Sir’ Alan, from what I have been told over the years was he was a former music teacher and big fan of the music and used to be heavily involved in the festival, then he had a an accident and went a little bit off the rails, but every year he’s there tapping out the rhythms the bands play on his trusty teaspoons He’s harmless to be fair but very much a character, last year one of the people even painted a picture of him for the festivals ‘Rogues Gallery’, but his absence did to be present a hint of melancholy to think he may of joined the great jam session in the sky. In his place was a seedy looking guy in a Union Flag hat, again I shouldn’t judge from appearances he’s probably the astronomer royal! The gig was excellent and I did attempt to soak up the copious amounts of beer with a cheeseburger as I was beginning to feel somewhat tired and emotional. Lamarotte were excellent as ever and to show my appreciation I purchased their latest CD. No signature this time though, oh well, it was time then for my taxi so I bid the festival adieu and returned to my digs. The charge was ten pounds which was quite reasonable considering it was to a motorway service station, once within my digs I made a brief phone call to my good friend from London and made myself a cup of Pukka Teas Night Time Tea. A fine blend which really does aid relaxation and soon found myself succumbing to the pleasures of slumber.

JAM: Mike Westbrook

 As part of Jazz Appreciation Month, there does come the negative side of going into the jazz scene, and today is my first ‘negative’ post.

Pianist and Composer Mike Westbrook passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday, 11th April. This was confirmed this morning by his agent.

Here is the Guardian’s obituary for Mike Westbrook, written by Richard Williams.

Jazz Appreciation Month: Taking Care of Business (Album Review)

 

This is an album released on a small Birmingham based label called Big Bear Music, so curious parties are recommended to go direct to the Big Bear Website for a copy.

Tipitina are a jazz/blues based outfit fronted on vocals and guitar by the delectable Debbie Jones with strong support by Justin Randall on Piano, whom I discovered through my various sojourns to the Upton Jazz Festival. Taking Care of Business is their second album and also reaps the benefits of being a live recording and those captures the atmosphere of a performance so often lost in studio.

The album opens up in fine form with a number entitled Hey Pocky Way with Justin tinkling the ivories in a very attention grabbing manner before Debbie joins in on vocals a few bars in, this is a good if a lightweight number but that is no matter as the passion and joy in the music more than makes up for this.

Things get into more substantial territory as the album goes on with two songs written by Randy Newman, a composer who I believe is vastly underrated and whose material should be considered part of the great American Songbook, though sadly the numbers performed are not his classic satirical song "Short People". The first is a classic number called Louisiana 1927, a number about the great flood in 1927 and has subsequently become relevant again due to the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina, not to mention the flooding in this country at the start of this year. Debbie Jones belts out this heart breaking number with a real sense of feeling with the melancholy lyrics having a mournful tone about them perfectly encapsulated by her vocal timbres on the high notes. When performed at Upton 2012 (ironically a washed out festival) the audience were silenced by her performance and it would take someone with a heart of stone not to be moved by this performance. The second Newman number is a much more well known, but no less great, ballad called "Feels Like Home". This is a much more subdued affair, almost sang in conspiratorial tones by Debbie; musically speaking this is a very interesting tune as it is very clearly written in a minor key but the lyrics are very positive which reflects perfectly the songs themes of getting oneself out of the doldrums. Another important thing to note on this track is how good a guitarist Debbie Jones is, a part of the bands performance which often is overlooked by people, myself included.

Another feature of the album is that there are a number of tracks which are medleys; no doubt a reflection of the album being a live recording. The first is entitled Fess Medley and contains three tracks which I believe tend to be associated which Dr. John: Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Big Chief and the track which inspired the band's name, Tipitina. These no doubt are included as to be dance themes for the performance as they all ripe with funky riffs and rhythms. The second combines two tracks, Tico Tico and something from the modern day British songbook; You Know That I'm No Good, a number by Amy Winehouse who died far too young and left us hungry for so much more. The number has a good build up and Jones captures the spirit of Winehouse's almost autobiographical lyrics, it is such a shame though that Jones only includes the second verse of the tune. The final medley is very much a fun one with the cheeky Mama, Don't Allow showcasing each member of the band for a few bars and closing off with the ubiquitous When the Saints Go Marching In.

This is a fantastic album which captures the spirit of a live show in the way many live recordings don't and the icing on the cherry has to be the tracks composed by Debbie and pianist Justin Randall themselves: the album's title track, You Me and the Keys and You Are A Blessing.