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Not
so much a report as a few notes.
First
up were Wally, Eric, Mike, Norman, Jimmy
and Artie on drums. In among a set, which included Be-bop-a-Lula, Bony Moroney and Stand
by me was Artie’s party piece, Wipeout.
He claims he hasn’t played it for ages but you wouldn’t have known! His soloing
was impeccable and never missed a tap or a paradiddle or whatever it is
drummers call these things.
A
departure from the familiar diet of Rock’n’roll followed when Chris Webster, Dave Blackstone, Richie
and Stan gave us a lovely jazzy
version of Sweet Georgia Brown that
owed more to Django Reinhardt than to Chuck Berry. Chris followed up with an
Elvis song from about 1959 called, I think, You’re
right, I’m left, she’s gone, which is a neat, catchy title for any song.
Chuck Berry’s You never can tell had
the jivers up very early.
Instrumentals
seemed to be popular tonight with Bobby
Scott’s Clayton Squares giving us a lovely, mellow version of Fleetwood
Mac’s Albatross (Jamo seems to think
it’s called Ostrich, but what would he know anyway?). After a muddled start,
where Tommy couldn’t decide which key he was in or which band he was playing
with, we had a beautiful slow blues number perfectly suited to George’s voice.
I didn’t get the title but I’ll ask when I see them next. Eric did his terrific
version of I shall be released, which
always brings the house down.
The
night was finished off by a scratch outfit consisting of Richie on bass, Dave Blackstone and John Clucas on guitars and Colin
Woodruff on drums. With these lads it was always going to be the blues. An
instrumental (Greenie) to start with,
featuring Colin’s driving, forceful drumming, then Sweet Home Alabama, a stand-out performance by Dave, before Paddy, who debuted last week got up to
do the old jazz/blues classic Nobody
knows you when you’re down and out and the more familiar Kansas City.
Alan Taylor joined the act to finish the
night with I saw her standing there.
Hoochie-Coochie man and the Jimmy
Reed classic Shame, shame, shame
rounded off another excellent Jam Night
with Merseycats, raising over £200
on the night to go towards helping children across Merseyside.