Mike Owen’s Scarlette’s Serenaders – 30 April 2023: The band consists of Mike Owen (leader) on trombone and vocals, Zoltan Sagi on reeds, Ian Wynne on piano, Jim “Lord” Swinnerton on bass and ‘Baby’ Jools Aldridge on drums. They opened with ‘Some Day Sweetheart’ and went on to give us ‘Why Don’t You All Go Down to New Orleans’, ‘One Step Two Step Cha Cha Waltz’, ‘All That I ask Is Love’, ‘Just Give me a June Night, the Moonlight and You’ , ‘Louisiana’, and finishing with ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams. There was a piano solo when Ian played and sang ‘Tipitina’. A great show enjoyed by all and we look forward to hearing them again.
Warren James’ “The Lonnie Donegan Story” – 23 April 2023: With leader Warren James on guitar and banjo and vocals the rest of the band consists of Jim “Lord” Swinnerton on bass, ‘Baby’ Jools Aldridge on drums, Mike Owen on trombone and Howard Gregory on guitar. They opened with ‘The Wabash Cannonball’ and went on to give us a terrific take on the Lonnie Donegan story, charting his rise from playing washboard in a skiffle group to international star. Music over the concert included ‘On The Road Again’, ‘Won’t You Give Me a Bit of Water Sylvie’, ‘Oh My Grandfather’s Clock’ (where almost the whole room joined in), ‘Rock Island Line, ‘Take My Hand Precious Lord’, ‘I Hate to See the Evening Sun Go Down’, a song from the Film Jack of Diamonds ’65 Special’, ‘Going Home’, ‘Cumberland Gap’, ‘Tom Dooley’, ‘Midnight Special’, ‘Pick A Bale of Cotton’ (again the whole room joining in), ‘Putting on the Style’ and of course it had to have ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight’. Lonnie was a big collector of folk music and was blown away by hearing Beryl Brown singing at one of the first jazz venues. He was called up for the Army and whilst stationed in Vienna he heard country music for the first time and loved it. The whole room was electrified. The performance given by Warren was simply magic. We look forward to seeing him again in the near future.
NO CONCERT – 16 April 2023
Chicago Teddybears Society Jazzband – 9 April 2023: Yes – they are back with us, four times winner of the SJS Band of the Year Award. Leader, Rae Owens on banjo/guitar and vocals (and jokes & reminiscences), Brian Singleton on drums, John Padfield on reeds, Jim Lucas on trumpet, Andrew McKenzie on trombone and vocals and Deano Revera on bass. They played their socks off with numbers like ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, ‘Red River Valley’, ‘Ain’t Misbehaving’, ‘Just a Little While’, ‘Exactly Like You’, ‘Shout ‘em’, ‘Thief of Baghdad’, ‘My Blue Heaven’, ‘Canal Street Blues’ and ‘Swing Low Sweet Charity’ when everyone in the room joined in. Smashing concert. We look forward to their return.
Slide by Slide – 2 April 2023: Welcome back to Slide by Slide, with leader Kevin Grenfell on trombone, trumpet and vocals (and cheeky humour), Richard Leach also on trombone, Simon Smith on string bass, Richard Hughes on keyboard and Jack Cotterill on drums. They opened with ‘Strike Up The Band’ and went on to give us the following renditions:
‘Give Me a Kiss to Build on Dream on’, ‘Going to New Orleans’, ‘Cry When Your Heart is Breaking’, ‘It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie’, ‘Blue Spanish Eyes’, ‘Georgie Girl’, ‘China Town’, ‘Tea for Two’, ‘Avalon’, ‘Mood Indigo’, ‘I’m Going to Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’, ‘Sway’, ‘Watermelon Man’ and finished, as always with ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’. A lovely mixture of old and new and well received by the audience who gave them a standing ovation. See you soon fellas.