The Yorkshire Stompers

The Yorkshire Stompers

Visiting Jazz On A Sunday on 9 November at the New Town National Club in Nixon Street, Castleton were The Yorkshire Stompers and for a second gig in succession a visiting band found lacking their incumbent bassist.

This time the ever popular Annie Hawkins was forced to cry off owing to illness but happily they were able at short no-tice to call on the services of the talented Keith Shone. Along with him were Greg Wadman on trumpet, Frank Brooker on reeds, Alan Bramley on trombone, their leader Richard Speight on banjo and guitar and Dave Johnson on drums.

Proceedings opened with a lively rendition of ‘Deed I Do’ and a rousing ‘Bugle Boy March’ followed with Wadman naturally to the fore and with an extended and inven-tive contribution also from Shone on bass. After this Brooker on vocals and in concert with his front line colleagues gave us all-time favourite ‘Basin Street Blues’.

There followed an interesting recreation of what some believe to have kick-started the surge toward commercial success for trad jazz during the fifties, namely the Humphrey Lyt-tleton band’s recording of ‘Bad Penny Blues’. Drummer Johnson was at the micro-phone as Brooker switched to tenor saxophone for ‘Autumn Leaves’, the latter was back on clarinet on ‘Strutting With Some Barbecue’ and the set ended thunderously with ‘That’s A Plenty’.

Set Two began with the Hoagy Carmichael composition ‘Riverboat Shuffle’ and there followed the number that had reputedly marked Louis Armstrong’s first emergence into the recording limelight namely ‘Chimes Blues’.

Brooker assayed ‘I’m Sitting On Top Of The World’ switching to tenor in support of Johnson on vocals for Rodger’s and Hart’s song ‘The Lady Is A Tramp’ from the 1937 musical Babes In Arms and soloed on clarinet with Sidney Bechet’s ‘Si Tu Vois Ma Mere’.

Following the spiritual ‘Higher Ground’ it was back to the higher registers of the in-strument for clarinettist Brooker in support of Wadman’s muted trumpet and the wah-wah of Bramley’s trombone on ‘Tin Roof Blues’ before, just like Set One,the second set ended to the thunder of Johnson’s drum break and Bix Beiderbecke’s bouncy ‘Oh Baby’.

‘Rosetta’ began the third and final set bringing back memories of Henry “Red” Allen touring with the Alex Welsh band in the mid nineteen sixties then in recognition of the fact that it was Rememberance Sunday the band led the audience in a singalaong comprising three World War One songs to wit ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’, ‘Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit-Bag’ and ‘It’s A Long Way To Tipperary’.

Then, in keeping with the prevailing mood of nostalgia, Speight soloed on guitar with Jerome Kern’s 1919 composition ‘Look For The Silver Lining’ and this continued to an extent with ‘Isle of Capri’ and its Gracie Fields associations before the Big Band era was reflected in contrasting fashions by ensemble renditions of the Chu Berry composition Christopher Columbus and by Duke Ellington’s Lull At Dawn before to round off the evening we were afforded some rabble rousing Cajun rhythms, Frank Brooker in full voice, a helping of Jambalaya and most appropriately Till We Meet Again.