The White Eagle Jazz Band

Roz Lewis - The White Eagle Jazz Band

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The White Eagle Jazz Band were Jazz On A Sunday’s guests at the Newtown National Club in Nixon Street on Sunday 20 July when leader Dave Kendall (trumpet), Steve Devine (reeds), Dave Lewis (trombone), Mac Burnell (guitar), Geoff Kitson (bass) and Keith Damials (drums) were joined briefly by Rochdale born trumpet player Eric Mainwaring, back from his adoptive Canada for some “hometime”.

The Yorkshire visitors were at their muscular best from the outset, kicking off on 'The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise' with Dave Kendall especially prominent. Dave Lewis took the vocal on 'Winin’ Boy Blues' and there followed acknowledgements to the Swing Era with Neal Hefty’s 'Cute' and to The Ink Spots with 'I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire', both featuring Steve Devine on tenor sax with the lugubrious bass-playing Geoff Kitson handling the vocals on the latter.

It was back to the delta next and 'Carry Me Back To Old Virginia' with Kendall at the microphone, Devine on clarinet and Lewis on trombone then a 'proper' vocalist, Rosalind Lewis, backed by the rhythm section and by Devine on tenor gave us 'Honeysuckle Rose' and the set ended up tempo with 'The Curse Of An Aching Heart'.
Trumpeter Kendall began the second set with 'Bugle Boy Rag' then it was Eric’s turn as standing alongside Kendall he traded note for note with him on 'Doctor Jazz', reminisced about meeting Louis Armstrong in Toronto, took the mike himself for 'Blueberry Hill' and left the stage to enthusiastic applause in the wake of 'I Found A New Baby'.

It fell to Roz Lewis to follow that which she duly did with a raunchy rendition of 'My Kitchen Man' then 'Too Busy' found Kendall again at the microphone, Devine on tenor and Burnell on guitar as was the case for the penultimate number 'St James Infirmary Blues' then the ubiquitous Kendall closed the set with 'Just A Little While To Stay Here'.

'Buddy Bolden’s Blues' opened the third set, Roz promenaded those 'Cakewalking Babies', we had 'Jazz Me Blues' then Smiling Geoff Kitson, donning a beret, bemoaned the fact that he was 'Just A Gigolo'.

Finally, it was 'Sing Alonga Dave' time as Mr Lewis of that ilk stepped forward for 'Bye Bye Blackbird' and 'Le tout ensemble' took the opportunity to sign off individually, courtesy of the full version (multiple verses non-negotiable) of 'When The Saints Go Marching In'.