Tame Valley Stompers - Jazz on a Sunday

Photo: Valerie Bracken

Tame Valley Stompers

5 More Image(s) In Gallery

The Tame Valley Stompers are ‘entertainment’ plus. “Happy music makes happy people but some traditionalists with a capital T like to seriously analyse between jazz presentation and humorous adaptation – each to their own.

Off with “Hiawatha Rag”, and a Wimpenny vocal “Dream”, they all got into swinging mode with “Rock My Soul”.

Accompanying himself on muted trumpet with Paul Broomhead on sax and Noel Broadgate’s keyboards, Wimpenny vocalised with “If I Had My Way Dear”.

“Nobody’s Sweetheart Now” brought bass guitarist Pete Smith’s vocal into play with soprano sax and Terry Brunt’s trombone driving the tune.

A superb arrangement of “Creole Love Call” featured neat duos for trombone and keyboards, trumpet and clarinet, with bass guitar and the gaffer Norman Pennington on drums.

Broadgate’s keyboards led the way with “Temptation Rag” and the late Jim Wilkes’ adaptation of “Life is Brief so Live It” found Smith and Wimpenny in song and Broomhead’s tenor sax powering the music.

The set finished with the front line stepping forward with their choral interpretation of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”.

A swinging version of “Sweet Chariot” with triple gentle vocals backed by tenor sax gave way to “Chimes Blues” with trumpet and trombone blending in harmony, and Broadgate’s composition of the “Asda Trolley Song”.

Beautifully played on clarinet, the 1798 “Playle’s Hymn”, Broomhead then moved up tempo with Barber’s “Whistling Rufus”.

“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” had Wimpenny’s muted trumpet accompanying his own vocal with Broadgate’s ‘vibeseque’ keyboards belting out the rhythm and the second break was reached with tenor sax, trombone and boogie piano going ‘hell for leather’ as Smith told the tale of “Going to Kansas City”.

“Tipitipitin” got the show back on the road with Wimpenny in good voice, and clarinet, trombone and keyboards well tuned. An unusual arrangement of “Mood Indigo” featured slow sliding muted trombone and bluesy bass guitar interpretations.

“Sweet Georgia Brown” had all the band flying high with Wimpenny’s vocal, giving way to the clarinet and vocal of Broomhead in “C’est Magnifique” with Broadgate providing draculian intersections.

The popular “Royal Telephone”, lead by Wimpenny drifted into Donegan’s “Puttin’ on the Style”.

“Climax Rag” had Brunt’s trombone sliding wildly as Terry went into his trombonology of 25 numbers in a speedy presentation.

“Wining Boy Blues”, a fine soprano sax solo and vocal for Broomhead and the holding note of Wimpenny’s muted trumpet brought the show to a close as the gang played out with “Goin’ Home”. The job’s a good ‘un.