The Dave Donohoe Band

Jim Swinnerton - The Dave Donohoe Band

As Dave Donohoe had not brought a band to Castleton since September 2008 the welcome accorded him and his 2016 charges prior to their 7 August performance was testament surely to the place he occupied in the collective memories of Jazz On A Sunday members.

Back then, with falling attendances, with a new committee having been formed and the club in the process of moving to yet another new venue - this time at the recently refurbished Mayfield Sports Centre - it had been a question of make or break? Did Rochdale want traditional jazz or not?

Happily the answer to that question turned out to be a resounding “Yes” with a near full house in attendance on our first night there to hear trombonist Donohoe in company with Dave Pogson (trumpet), Barry Aldous (reeds), Tom Kincaid (piano), Mal Horne (banjo and guitar), Jim Swinnerton (bass) and Bill Evans (drums).

This time around he brought along a clutch of equally familiar faces in Frank Brooker (reeds), Jim Wright (banjo and guitar), the returning Jim Swinnerton (bass) Jack Cotterill (drums) and (new to Jazz On A Sunday) Andy Cholerton on piano.

From his small ad in “Jazz Guide” we gathered that Donohoe-led bands had been entertaining internationally for nearly 50 years and that patrons could look forward to an evening of “Hot Rhythms, Foxtrots & Blues” so even when, to the dismay of our “Strictly” afficionados, the keenly anticipated foxtrot element failed to materialise, the leavings constituted entertainment of the very highest order.

We heard classic Dixieland - familiar (‘Muskrat Ramble’, ‘The Saints’, ‘Darktown Strutters Ball’) and less so (‘Shake It Or Break It’). There was Country “proper” (‘Take These Chains’, ‘Cold Cold Heart’); Country “rock” (‘I’m Walking’, ‘Hello Mary Lou’, ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’); Blues - “lonesome”, “railroad” and “urban” (‘Born To Lose’, ‘Hobo’s Lullaby’, ‘Junco Partner’, ‘City Of New Orleans’); a dash of Tin Pan Alley and some film music (‘When My Dreamboat Comes Home’, ‘The Bells Of Saint Mary’s’) overlaid by “hot rhythm” (‘Buona Sera’) and the spiritual ‘I’ll Fly Away’.

That would have been “a-plenty” but we also had Cholerton in Fats Domino mode (‘Blueberry Hill’), Swinnerton “Pops” Foster-like (‘Avalon’), Brooker superb (‘St Philip Street Breakdown’), Donohoe a la Kid Ory (‘I’m With You Where You Are’), Wright’s banjo ringing (‘Swanee River’) and fated like his fellows everywhere to be damned with faint praise “Jack Cotterill on drums”.