PROBABLY the first 3 B’s concert in Liverpool since the Garden Festival of 1984 saw a packed Philharmonic Hall give the three veterans of British traditional Jazz a well-deserved rousing reception.
This audience – largely veterans themselves, I’m afraid – was not here to criticise, and it must be said there was little that even the most critical could fault.
The first half of the evening was given to the Chris Barber Bigger Band, who gave us a fine mix of trad standards and slightly unusual material.
A crashing ensemble performance of Bourbon Street Parade – almost Chris’s signature tune by now – led with very little linking speech into three fine pieces with Ellingtonia well featured.
Mike Henry’s trumpet and Bob Hunt’s trombone are by now familiar parts of the Big Band, but a real delight was the reed work of Zoltan Sagi, both on baritone sax and a beautiful Petite Fleur on clarinet.
Part two saw Mr Acker Bilk with his very capable ensemble featuring the driving and delightful trumpet of Enrico Tomasso, scion of a very notable house of Jazzmen.
A whole raft of good traditional Jazz tunes started with a lovely Memphis Blues featuring the stalwart trombone of Ian Bateman and ran the gamut of trad with That Da Da Strain, Wabash Blues and a beautiful If I Had You by clarinet and piano.
