The Yorkshire Stompers and The Wirrorleans Jazz Band

The Yorkshire Stompers

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The opening weeks of September found two of Jazz On A Sunday regulars favourite bands taking to the stage at Castleton’s New Town National Club - The Yorkshire Stompers and The Wirrorleans Jazz Band.

The Yorkshire Stompers, a band that - provided one ignored the obvious “elephants in the room” namely bassist Annie Hawkins (from Melbourne) and reeds player Frank Brooker (from somewhere south of Watford) - could to a man claim to be made up of solid Yorkshire folk - to wit Greg Wadman on trumpet, their leader Alan Bramley on trom-bone, Richard Speight on banjo and guitar and Dave Johnson on drums.

Formed in 1992 the Stompers have a repertoire which ranges from traditional jazz classics to spirituals and the evening’s entertainment exemplifed this including (inter alia) standards such as ‘Tin Roof Blues’, ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ and ‘That’s a Plenty’; seminal offerings from the very beginnings of “trad fever” in this country - like ‘Bad Penny Blues’; some ballads - ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘April Showers’ and an outstanding Brooker-arranged ‘Lull At Dawn’; from the Swing era ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Schein’ plus some latin rhythms - ‘Say Si Si’ for one - not forgetting a re-sounding, big band inspired, ‘Christopher Columbus’.

The Wirrorleans Jazz Band, comprised Phil Lucas on trumpet, the ubiquitous Andrew Mackenzie on trombone, Brian Legan on clarinet and alto saxophone, Brian Hall on guitar, Keith Alcock on double bass and their leader John Blackman on drums.

Promising an eclectic mix of jazz with a hint of New Orleans - 'eclectic' in this context seeming-ly implying something between 'offering patrons a choice' and choosing to play whatever they (i.e the band) liked, it was obvious from the outset when they chose to ‘Strike Up The Band’ that the JOAS audience found whatever they chose 'choice' and would continue to “like” what The Wirrorleans played.

The evening’s mix included more than a 'hint' of New Orleans - with the ‘Dippermouth’, ‘Mem-phis’, ‘Jazz Me’ and ‘Savoy’ Blues respectively and the meandering ‘New Orleans’ (Hall on vo-cal) There was full-bodied swing - ‘I Got Rhythm’, ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing’, ‘Hindustan’ - “crossovers” to the popular song catalogues - ‘Sweet Lorraine’, ‘Honeysuckle Rose’, ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’; an intriguing latinesque oriented ‘Muskrat Ramble’; ‘Deed I Do’, a high octane ‘High Society’ and much else beside so who could ask for anything more?

Jazz on a Sunday at Newtown National Club