This evening we went to the
George & Dragon in Thames Ditton to see the John Barnes quartet, comprising John Barnes (baritone sax, alto sax, clarinet and vocals), Alan Dandy (keyboard), Mick Durelle (string bass) and Don Cook (drums). I managed to get a photograph of the full band for this post, with all four in view.
The numbers we enjoyed most from the quartet were:
'Try a Little Tenderness' by Harry Woods, lyrics by Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly (pseudonym Irving King) and recorded initially on 8 December 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra with vocal by Val Rosing;
'Caravan' by valve trombonist Juan Tizol and first performed by him playing with the Duke Ellington band in 1937.
Caravan was requested by a young mother, who just wrote a choice of two numbers and please on a piece of paper and left it on the table. I demonstrated that one needs to be much more forceful to gain success.
Alan's solo feature was his own boogie-woogie composition 'Down by the River'. Later he duetted with Mick for 'How About You', composed by Burton Lane with lyrics by Ralph Freed and introduced in the 1941 film Babes on Broadway by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.
Guests were Geoff Cole (trombone), John Shepherd (trumpet) and John Lang (trombone) playing the following four numbers with the full quartet:
'Riverboat Shuffle', by Hoagy Carmichael;
'You Took Advantage of Me', by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart;
'California Here I Come' by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer, recorded by Al Jolson in 1924 and pub landlord Joe McCann's favourite number;
'Ring Dem Bells' by Duke Ellington.
Labels: Jazz
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