Reporter: Tony Sheldon
Date online: 12/06/2008

New Orleans Heat made a welcome return to Castleton with a varied programme of musical excellence. Led by Barry Grummett on piano, this fine band continues the music of the late Chris Blount and provided an evening to relish.

Guesting on cornet, flugalhorn and slap board with the East Midlands band was Swansea musician Gwyn Lewis. His incredible commitment and enthusiasm was highlighted by the fact that he was travelling home immediately after the gig for an early start to his job of chief engineer to the Swansea hospitals group before returning to the hospital the next day for the removal of a throat obstruction which will prevent his jazz performances for several weeks.

They say that you only have to shout up a Welsh mountain for a singer to respond, and during the first set Lewis used his tonsils to good effect on the numbers 'My Little Gal', 'Lily of the Valley' and 'Where He Leads Me'. The musical spectrum was emphasised by such compositions as 'Martha', 'Chirri, Chirri, Bin' and 'Wabash Blues'.

A short second set featured the sax of George Berry on 'Royal Telephone', a swinging arrangement of 'Savoy Blues 'highlighting the trombone talent of Alan Birkinhead, who also vocalised on the popular 'Move the Body Over'. Drummer Dion Cochrane lubricated his vocal chords with 'When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver', and the set included a superb version of 'Tin Roof Blues' with the soft sax of Berry, the muted cornet of Lewis and the neat banjo of Tony Peatman.

The final set maintained its magnificence with Berry's clarinet solo 'Burgundy Street Blues'- you could have heard a pin drop - Cochrane vocalising with 'Anytime', Lewis and Grummett combining in 'On a Coconut Island', and the quiet man of the double bass, Harry Slater, upping the tempo in the final mayhem of the numbers 'Running Wild' and 'Rebecca, Rebecca' which tried to raise the roof!

The New Orleans Heat
June 2003