WEST JESMOND RHYTHM KINGS

The WJRK were recently playing an open-air gig in Wallsend Forum, when a little old lady, weighed down with the burden of years and toil (not to mention several Co-op shopping bags) stopped to listen. As the tune ended, she caught the eye of the bandleader and with a kindly smile lighting up her wrinkled features, said “Eee, ah bet youse were good when ye were young”. Well, madam, yes, we were, and now thanks to several weeks’ course of Dr Schwanzenstücker’s patent Monkey Gland Pills (obtained at some expense over the Internet) we can happily confirm that the old vigour is back. There is an unaccustomed spring in our collective step, a new gleam in the collective eye, a renewed determination to play the tunes of Morton, Oliver, Armstrong and Ellington with snap, pep and zing. Thank you, thank you, Old Lady of Wallsend, for galvanising us into action!! (Dr Schwanzenstücker’s Patent Pills on sale in interval).

Sidney Bechet is one of the titanic figures of jazz, a truly original voice and a huge influence on generations of reed players. His sweeping phrases, wide vibrato and fierce attack, both on clarinet and soprano, make him immediately identifiable on every record he made: a man of strong temperament, Bechet dominated almost every band he played in, and the ceaseless flow of his inspired improvisations never fails to amaze. It is our pleasure this year to present a programme of Sidney’s later music (from the forties and fifties) played by this fine band from Switzerland, featuring the soprano sax and clarinet of Thomas Winteler, one of the foremost interpreters of Bechet’s style playing today. His front-line partner is the talented and expressive Michel Bard on clarinet, alto and baritone saxophones, and they are backed by a hard-swinging four-piece rhythm section.