The Eagle Jazz Band
The Eagle Jazz Band

Traditional sounds were the order of the day when The Eagle Jazz Band appeared on the final day of Lichfield’s Blues and Jazz Festival.

The Eagle Jazz Band
The Eagle Jazz Band

With Brian Mellor on vocals, banjo and guitar, George Huxley on saxophones and clarinet, Matt Palmer on saxophone, clarinet and vocals, Pete Brown on trombone, trumpet, cornet and vocals, Terry Williams on drums, and bassist and sousaphone player Brian Lawrence they played a set of popular songs from the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

The slower rhythms of some songs led to some gloriously melodic soloing on songs such as That Old Rocking Chair’s Got Me or Petite Fleur, which was a showcase for the lyrical gifts of George Huxley.

Al Jolson’s The Midnight Choo Choo was an abject lesson in light drumming, and the audience request of Maryland was well played.

Acker Bilk’s Stranger on the Shore was well received by the attentive audience, while set closer the sea shanty Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me was a buoyant, hope filled song, that led to the encore of a very triumphant Bring Me Sunshine.