Jazz on Sunday - The Tame Valley Stompers

Terry Brunt, The Tame Valley Stompers

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The Tame Valley Stompers, under the leadership of drummer and founding father Norman Pennington, made a welcome return to Jazz On A Sunday on 8 February.

This is a band that never fails to deliver and from the moment the evening kicked off there was top quality entertainment all the way.

An hour long plus first set encompassed well established standards from the 1920s like the opener ‘China Boy’ and ‘Come Back Sweet Papa’.  'Black Cat On The Fence’ with its associations of Ken Colyer and the New Orleans revival, the rhythms of the Caribbean by way of Wilbur de Paris’ ‘The Martinique’, the intriguing ‘Blues For Jimmy’ (clarinettist Jimmy Noone that is - not wildman Hendrix) plus songs respectively from Peter Smith (‘Nobody’s Sweetheart Now’ and ‘Sweet Sue’), Paul Broomhead (‘Delia Gone’) and, in the absence of Mary, Roger Wimpenny (‘Move The Body Over’), then completely dispelling the notion that the Esso sign had or would ever again mean happy motoring there was an audience singalong - allegedly ‘Bobby Shafto’.

The cakewalk ‘Whistling Rufus’ began the second set, bass player Pete came over all smouldering and raunchy with namesake Bessie Smith’s number ‘You’ve Got The Right Key’; the recently recruited John Gordon, whose playing throughout reminded us all of how jazz banjo used to sound way back when, soloed on guitar to particular acclaim with ‘Willow Weep For Me’. Then it was trombonist Terry Brunt up front and emphasising every conceivable nuance of ‘Tight Like That’.

Propriety quickly reasserted itself via one of reedsman Paul’s superbly crafted clarinet solos. Monty Sunshine himself would have been pushed to better this rendition of the Sidney Bechet classic ‘Petite Fleur’.

‘Swing That Music’, a hit for a rare Louis Armstrong big band configuration of the 1930s found Roger at the mike again and the set ended with Terry urging us to bask in the glow of the previous afternoon’s rout of the rebellious Welsh at the Millenium Stadium with ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’.

Perennial favourite ‘Hiawatha Rag’ opened the final set, Broomhead demonstrated his linguistic capabilities, vocalising on ‘Bei Mir Bist Du Schein’. ‘Riverside Blues’ followed then Wimpenny donned the Gracie Fields mantle for a song which, like our guests, has impeccable local credentials, to wit ‘Isle Of Capri’.

With the clock winding down Brunt soloed and again took the vocal for ‘I Want A Little Girl’, Broomhead followed up to the delight of the audience with ‘St Philip Street Breakdown’, switching from clarinet to soprano sax in support of Smith, now the vocalist on ‘There’s A Rainbow Round My Shoulder’, before the evening came to a resounding close with ‘Royal Telephone Line’ (incorporating skiffle’s ‘Putting On The Style’) and ‘The Saints’ (ditto) ‘I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You’.