‘MAHOGANY HALL STOMPERS’ appeared at our Farnborough Jazz Club on Friday, 28th February 2014. Band leader & trumpeter Brian Giles was joined by Tim Huskisson on clarinet/sax (yes he was with us last Friday on piano, that’s how talented he is). Also Rex Odell on trombone, ‘Southend Bob’ Albutt on banjo, Eddie Johnson on double bass and last, but not least, was Barry Tyler on drums (haven’t seen you in years Barry). Last week, I asked all you audience makers, to please make sure you didn’t miss it, so you could dance away an odd pound or two in weight BEFORE the Easter egg(s) cometh! Some of you heeded, so thanks for helping to produce a lovely happy atmosphere. Anyhow, these were some of the numbers the band played just to give you a little in-site of the enjoyable evening we had. They began the evening with ‘How Do You Do Me Like You Do, Do, Do’, which was sung by Bob. What a great voice he has. This was followed with such a beautiful song called ‘Tangerine’, one amongst some of my many best loved favourites), beautifully sung by Rex. The next song has been featured on TV recently, advertising Volkswagen cars (with the tall beautiful girl wanting a tall guy – one gets out of a small car). The song ‘It’s Just Like Looking for a Needle in a Haystack’ sung by Bob, comes from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film called ‘The Gay Divorcee’. He followed up with some scat vocalising to ‘Cushion Feet Stomp’ (I jotted down ‘some lovely trombone sounds’). Bob’s famous party-piece is that number called ‘I Wanna Be A Dog’. It is an extremely funny song written by children’s author, Barry Louis Polisar. Bob has re-vamped it, and his voice really does it justice too. The next number I noted was ‘When You’re Smiling’, with Brian’s lovely trumpet and Rex giving a brilliant imitation of Louis Armstrong, (including the hanky). Of course we all joined in with him (well not like Louis). I remember him giving out a laugh and said “Oh, I think I sounded more like Tommy Cooper there, ha”. Now the next number to mention was ‘You Meet the Nicest People in Your Dreams’, which was also sung by Rex. It is a much loved song here in our club, which was often played by one of our favorite bands, namely Phil Mason’s New Orleans All Stars (we miss you Phil). Of course again we joined in with Rex too. (I quite like the fact that this song was co-written by A Goodhart – I know, I’m sloppy). Bob sang the next number ‘I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling’, which showed off his very rich baritone sound. The band rounded off the evening with that gorgeous Louis Armstrong number called ‘What a Wonderful World’. Of course, Rex did the business again (it must be quite rough on the vocal cords though – well done Rex). Thanks to the boys in the band, for a lovely evening.
Cheers from Diane and Keith