The six-piece Jim Wynn Swingtet bought upbeat swing jazz and blues when they played a Lichfield Jazz session at the Cathedral Hotel.
With Jim on piano and arrangements, Elliot Drew on tenor saxophone, Nick Dewhurst on trumpet and a talented rhythm section, their brand of foot-tapping music covered such luminaries as Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Fats Domino and Louis Armstrong – they also had a time for a couple of their own compositions.
With music coming from the 1940s and 1930s it was stylistically quite simple, with unison, punchy trumpet and saxophone parts, and short, pithy guitar and piano solos, while there were also a variety of moods and time signatures in the evening.
The night kicked of with an exciting 2nd Line, before Django Reinhardt classic Minor Swing was delivered with aplomb and assurance, and 12th Street Rag lifted the pace of the evening.
Fats Domino’s Viper’s Drag was well received, as was a slightly resigned Thing’s Ain’t What They Used To Be.
Jim Wynn showed that he has a talent for writing stylistically appropriate tunes with both Swingtet Blues and Second City Shuffle being worthy additions.
Take the A Train was a familiar piece, but played in a slightly slower fashion to the norm, and Fats Domino’s Honey Suckle Rose and Louis Armstrong’s St James Infirmary – featuring a fine trumpet solo – showed that the swingtet were also more than capable of delivering ballads.
The next Lichfield Jazz concert will be The Dave Tandy band at the Cathedral Hotel on November 16th.
