The Old Fashioned Love Band

Jake Reeves, Old Fashioned Love Band

Once again Manchester-centric since the retirement of their long serving leader Mel Hill the ever popular Old Fashioned Love Band were Jazz on Sunday’s latest guests in Castleton.

Led now by trombonist Mike Pembroke they had the ubiquitous Bill Smith on cornet and blues harmonica, Willie Entwistle on reeds and the (country) fiddle, Jake Reeves who belying his perennially youthful appearance admits to having been one of OFLB’s original mid 1960s West Midlands’ line-up, the 'Flying (fingered) Finn' – no, neither Paavo Nurmi nor Mika Hakkinen but Harri Forelius - on bass and Moe Green on drums.

After opening the first set with ‘Nobody’s Sweetheart Now’ with Willie and Bill to the fore they followed up with a pair of long time favourites in ‘Come Back Sweet Papa’ and the Louis Armstrong/King Oliver associated number ‘Oh Baby’ sandwiched between which we heard Jake on vocal and Willie on fiddle with ‘Mississippi Dreamboat’.

Next came ‘Lady Be Good’, Swing Era classic ‘Blue Lou’, the intriguing and tuneful ‘Every Now And Then’ and ending the first set very much up tempo, ‘Royal Garden Blues’

Set Two continued in like vein ‘Strutting With Some Barbecue’, Bill took the mike for ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter’ then his cornet (and prolonged audience applause) for ‘Tin Roof Blues’

Willie led from the front on alto reviving memories of Alex Welsh in ‘Rosetta’, assumed his fiddle personna to back Jake on the latter’s vocal offering ‘Hiawatha’s Lullaby’ then it was back to alto and once again to the ‘Swing Era’ with ‘Undecided’.

Bill (vocal) and leader Mike led us all ‘Down by the Riverside’ and the set came to an end with Bill on harmonica and the (allegedly self attributed) W C Handy standard ‘Beale Street Blues’

Another blues standard (albeit swing-oriented in its presentation here) namely ‘Wabash Blues’ opened the third and final set, drummer Moe Green was let loose for ‘Hindustan’ after which Jake brought us novelty number ‘My Honey’s Loving Arms’ and Bill an outstanding rendition of ‘Beale Street Blues’ before the evening came to end in true OFLB ‘Rhythm AND Romance’ style with ‘Exactly Like You’ – Mike taking the vocal this time – then ‘If I Had You’ and to close one last ‘thrash’ and ‘Dinah’