‘BOB DWYER’S BIX & PIECES’ played for us on Friday, 17th JANUARY 2014 here at FARNBOROUGH JAZZ CLUB. The musicians in the band were leader BOB on trombone & vocals, MAX EMMONS on trumpet, harmonica & vocals, Ausie DUNCAN HEMSTOCK on clarinet & sax (who stepped in for Bernie Holden), HUGH CROZIER on piano & vocals, JOHN BAYNE on double bass/bass sax, NICK SINGER on banjo & vocals and LAURIE CHESCOE on drums, whistle & grins. I began the evening in a state of panic. I’m looking after a family member’s house, which is on the highest point of Kent. That day, water was pouring off the lawn, threatening to flood, so I needed to sort before leaving! Also someone said M25 had been closed due to flooding, so I thought we would be in trouble at the club. Possibly band having problems getting to us, plus having a small audience? However, the band all made it, but the audience arrived at a trickle – pardon the pun! I did say jokingly last week to swim to us, but great as you are, most regulars arrived and a wonderful evening ensued. I wrote so many tunes down, so I found it hard to decide which ones to tell you about, but here’s my choice. The first was a Billie Holiday number called ‘No Regrets’ and sung by Bob. He has a very melodic voice. ‘At The Jazz Band Ball’ was my next number to mention. Wow, they were all up dancing and I managed to write ‘Yeah!’ I wrote a huge asterisk next to ‘Rebecca, Rebecca, Get Your Big Legs Off of Me’’, and jotted down “Fabulous – an ‘all-out’ number, with all of them playing brilliantly – especially Max, who sang, plus played harmonica. We performed our line-dance to their next number, Irving Berlin’s fabulous song ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’. Well four of us did. A few of our usual line-dancers had not made it to the club, but I think us four enjoyed ourselves. I hope the rest of the audience and band enjoyed it too (tough if you didn’t, ha). John needs to have a special mention with his marvellous performance to the next number. He began the tune playing solo bass sax to the complete tune of ‘It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie’, then the rest joined in, with Nick singing in his own inimitable way, plus audience participation too. The next fabulous number was one they have played for us in the past. I must tell you how again, they all gave an amazing performance. The number was ‘Freight Train Blues’. Max not only sung it, but also played harmonica. John played bass sax, with drummer Laurie blowing the whistle, plus Bob and Duncan making the sound of a train. Such splendid entertainment and I personally would like them to play it each time they return. Then someone suggested we have the ladies in the audience ask the men for a dance, which was a lovely idea. At that point, the band played my request of ‘Change Partners and Dance with Me’, a lovely medium (successful) dance tempo. We’ll have to try that again next week. The next number featured Duncan on clarinet with Laurie on drums. Absolutely superb. When they finished, I asked if I could speak and said “They have just re-named our club to Carnegie Hall. Laurie’s grin resembles Gene Krupa and Duncan was definitely in Benny Goodman’s shoes. You’ve guessed, it was ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Shon’, re-written by Sammy Cahn in 1937, who gave the then unknown Andrew Sisters a huge world-wide hit. By the way, (I think I have mentioned before) I might have been the person who started off calling it ‘My Dear Mr Shane’! Keith corrected me nearly 30years ago! I prefer my name! To continue, they finished the evening with ‘Caldonia’. Yes, they have played it before for us, but again they do it so well, with Hugh’s super vocals too. You are a wonderful band and consequently, everyone left on a ‘high’ with huge smiles on their faces. It certainly was fun jazz, jazz, jazz and as quoted last week from Bing’s words, “and that’s jazz”! Their next date here is 28th March 2014.
Diane and Keith