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

The Mike Carnie All Stars with Carnie on drums and keyboard player Derek Harrison doing the intros and vocals played a mixture of popular numbers, the unusual aspect being the vocals coming in at the end of the number rather than at the beginning.

All good musicians, but the irregular gigs did show in the tightness of the 'teamplay', but I did like the integral use of bass man Reg Kenworthy.

Harrison got the show on the road with a strange arrangement of Joplin's “The Sting” with bass and drum support. A long first set then presented a trio of blues numbers – a swinging version of “Beale Street” followed by “Basin Street” and “Bourbon Street Parade”.

A very different swing arrangement of “Exactly Like You” featured Jon Critchley's muted trumpet with an interlude of keyboards and bass interspersed with Carnies mini drum pieces. “Wolverine Blues” had full front line power with Harrison's keyboard banjo sounds – unusual. “Over The Waves” brought a clarinet solo from Mike Hayler with a rhythm arrangement 'extraordinaire' and yet another special arrangement of “Georgia On My Mind” with Laurie Cooper’s trombone and Critchley’s muted trumpet to the fore with bass mini solo and finishing with Harrisons vocal, before Hayler’s swinging tenor sax took the interval bow with “The Preacher”.

The clarinet of Hayler with “Sweet Georgia Brown” and Harrison's “Making Whoopee” led to visiting Canadian guest, ex-Rochdalian Eric Mainwaring joining the band for a trumpet duo and vocal with “Dr Jazz” and “I Found A New Baby” complemented by Cooper's slow trombone.

A Carnie drum carnage in “Bie Mir Bist Du Schien” then changed to the melancholy “Blue Turning Grey Over You” featuring a superb Cooper trombone solo muted to meet the mood.

You couldn’t fault the band for variety and value and Hayler's clarinet treatment of Bechets “Petite Fleur” had great panache. "Royal Garden" and “Savoy Blues” brought out the talents of trumpet and trombone and Harrison's vocals with “Lets Do It” with word variation and “Ice Cream” with power brass was split by standing performance piano boogie before sounding off with “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone” – I bet they did!