The first of our featured singer sessions with Annie Smith and a slightly organised quartet – Allan Smith (d) Roger Clarke (s) Doug Kuhn (db) and of course the ever debonaire Curtis tickling the ivories.

We started with a few instrumentals, just to prove it wasn’t all plain sailing, with the Captain, Jeff, Laurie and third time lucky Noel on floot. Once a quorum had been established, Annie launched into her first set with a variety of swing toons . The audience warmed up and by the end of the set, she was rewarded with enthusiasm in spades.

So far, so good, and we fell back on a few more instrumentals, Pete on electric bass, then Ivan, then Carol on vocals, Malcolm turning up in the nick of time.

Annie’s second set started fairly late (quite a few people had already left, including three members of her quintet). They missed a great take on Georgia on my Mind, and some more challenging latin numbers (numeros?). The evening settled to allow a few of the regular jammers more playing time.

A fine session on balance, more musos (24) and fewer locals. Things are looking up.

Music: the usual diverse selection of toons mangled and dispatched.

See ya Sunday?
TW