PHOENIX DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND was our band on 25th July 2014 at the Farnborough Jazz Club. Leader ROBIN COOMBS had an excellent line-up with PAUL HIGGS on trumpet, BILL TODD on trombone, DAVE BARNES on piano, ROGER CURPHEY on double bass, JOHN STUART on banjo & guitar and ALAN CLARKE on drums. Their performance was as expected just wonderful, they all compliment one-another so well. So how did the evening progress? Well, their first number was ‘Strutting with some Barbecue’. I do hope you are not getting too bored with any repeat adjectives, because here comes one! They started brilliantly! Next number I jotted down was ‘Georgia On My Mind’, sang by Bill, who has a very pleasant jazz voice. The dancers certainly enjoyed my next choice, ‘Jazz Me Blues’and then Dave gave the ragtime number ‘Wolverine Blues’ a great run for our money. Bill sang ‘White Cliffs of Dover’, with everyone playing fantastically, encouraging more dancing too. Paul, with his shiny green coloured trumpet gets better (if that is at all possible) every time we hear him. ‘West End Blues’ was one he wowed us with – a wonderful melodic trumpet. As for Alan’s drumming with ‘Caravan’, his solo was full of excitement and one can see why he is also a drum teacher. The rest of the engine and front line were superb too. As I said last week, nothing like ‘live’ entertainment. It was lovely to see a couple of new faces (hope you come back), especially as some regulars were unable to make it (for very good reasons), although they all forgot their letters from their mums!
Diane and Keith