What do you do when your Saxophonist doesn’t turn up?

Of course, what you can do, is employ the services of a member of the audience as a temporary replacement. Jazz is after all a highly improvisational form of art. That’s exactly what happened on Saturday when I visited an intimate Jazz club in Soho, Jazz After Dark, where the food was good and the music was even better. Apart from that is, the impromptu stand in.

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, his performance or lack of, was probably due to him not knowing the set, but in truth, he got left behind so many times on all but the most well known of tunes, he spent more time standing, tapping his feet and holding his sax close to, but not actually in his mouth.

Still, minus the standin, the Quarter on stage, I really cannot remember their names, were excellent. They played everything from Stevie Wonder to Coltrane, though my repeated requests for Night in Tunisia fell on deaf ears. They even tried to convince my mate to share her dulcet tones with them on stage. The band usually play on Monday nights at the blues club, oh what’s the name again…blast! It’s gone, (I should write these things down). Still if you’re in the mood for some Jazz, Blues and decent food & wine at a price that puts other west end venues TO SHAME!!! then I would thoroughly recommend Jazz After Dark.

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