JIVIN' MISS DAISY

Chelmsford Jazz Club at the Cramphorn

07.01.10

Chelmsford Jazz Club was founded 25 years ago, and this concert was a great way to celebrate.

Though the club more usually features small combos, there are occasionally bigger bands, and Simon Thorpe's eight-piece outfit, playing authentic arrangements from the era of Basie, Ellington, Henderson and Barnet, certainly proved popular with a packed Cramphorn.

They began with Basie's In Case You Didn't Know, and ended with Spencer Williams' Everybody Loves My Baby. My favourite, and I don't think I was alone, was the Gershwins' That Certain Feeling, given a stylish big band gloss.

Their vocalist, the excellent Anjali Perin, whose warm, smooth voice, with crystal clear lyrics, made the most of classics like Blue Skies, and Brooks Bowman's East of the Sun, with a nicely understated guitar solo by Colin Oxley. She gave us a couple of Porter numbers, and the poignant ballad What's New, featuring Nick Dawson's piano and Simon Finch's trumpet.

It's a while since I was at the Jazz Club's monthly Sunday lunchtime meeting. I was impressed not just with the standard of the music, but by the warm welcome, and the sound system, each musician sensitively miked and mixed. As the wag next to me remarked, only the band's neckties were too loud...

Next meeting, on March 7, brings the Matt Wates sextet back to the Cramphorn.