I am left in total amazement in regards to Jimmy C's tenacity and stamina for not only undergoing chemotherapy for cholangiocarcinoma throughout the past several months but also enduring a very recent long haul from Vancouver to attend his mother's funeral. No-one would've blamed Jimmy for cancelling his guest-spot, but he insisted the show must go on! My first duty is to pass on our sincere condolences to Jimmy and his family and many friends.

Jimmy's energy seems to have no bounds and I honestly don't know how he manages to fit in tours to Russia, Greece, Canada, Germany etc. He is now embarking on a week-long tour of East Germany on which I'll have the enormous pleasure of joining him - and I know Jimmy will continue to give nothing but 100% come rain or shine.

Nothing too demanding from Jimmy's opening set which also included MC Mike Dearing's guitar support, starting off with "The Thrill Has Gone" before livening things up with "Crossroads". "Cross-Cut Saw" was followed by a Rory Gallagher rendition of "Messing With The Kid" - I'm so glad he didn't ask me to play a bass sole as he normally insists I do! Jimmy wrapped up the opening set with a great version of "Black Magic Woman" before bowing out to rapturous applause - and rightly so! On quite a busy night we still managed to hear two more numbers from Jimmy at the end of the night with guitarist Matt Withey stepping in for Mike Dearing plus the addition of Raf on keyboard. Thank you Jimmy, you're an inspiration to us all, needless to say, we give our full support in your quest to regain good health - "Cheers Jimmy"!

Very rarely do we have a keyboard-player here in successive weeks so It was touch and go as to whether we'd bother to bring out the keyboard, so often it is left redundant at times but very pleased we brought it out this week because we had visits from Alex Leith and Steve Taylor (who the keyboard belongs to), and even Raf decided to get on the keys at the end of the night. So good to hear the keyboard, especially when played so competently by the likes of Alex, Steve and the aforementioned Raf, but there was no shortage of talent on show this week which was reflected in the quality of the jam-sets being played this week. Through good management from Queen Bee Vera and everybody not over-extending their solos we comfortably managed to lay on six excellent jam-sets with three numbers-per-set. Time to call...

The Roll Of Honour:

• Vocals - Jan Fielder and Bonnie Taylor
• Guitar+Vocals - Simon Durham, Matt Withey, Dave Richards and Mike Dearing
• Harp+Vocals - Mike Dearing,
• Guitar - Alan Vincent, Chris Greene, Richard Stenhouse, Raf, Kevin O'Brien and Ian Hammond
• Keys - Alex Leith, Raf and Steve Taylor
• Bass - Laurie Harper, Martin Heath, Dave Taylor, Steve Taylor and Terry Duggan
• Drums - Steve Panteli, Marc Turner, John Ward and Reg Patten

Our thanks as usual to Ernie King, Richard Stenhouse and everybody who helped to set out the equipment and pack it away at the end of the night, not forgetting the Missus of course who also provided this week's photos. Vera and I will be away in East Germany with Jimmy C for the next two weeks (but I'll need to get shot of the dreaded lurgy which is plaguing me at the moment !).

Next time at Leytonstone Blues Jam:
Our guest for next week (9th) will be Conrad Di Ianni who will be bringing along his saxophonist Firat Avci and bass-player Terry Simpson (hope he brings along his great-sounding double-bass!).

The week after (16th) our MC Mike Dearing will be guesting with Alan Vincent with hopefully Richard Stenhouse deputising for me.

Another important date to put in your diary is December 23rd when Vera and I will return for our now world-famous Christmas Blues jam with lashings of free food, free raffle ticket on entry and plenty of prizes to be won! To cap it all we'll have Jamie Rowan hopefully dressed up as Santa!

Something for the weekend:
On this coming Friday 6th there'll be no Blues at St Harmonica's Blues Club while the Southgate Club stage their monthly comedy night, but on Sunday 8th at the Southgate Club our good friends at St Harmonica's will be holding their extremely well-run Xmas Blues jam starting at 6.00pm through to about 9.30pm. For further information, see: http://www.thevintage.org.uk/st-harmonicas-blues-club.html or The St. Harmonica's Facebook page

On Saturday 7th at The Manor Arms, 150 East India Dock Road, E14 0BP there'll be another chance to see Conrad Di Ianni who will be guesting with Ronnie Collins' Last Project. He will also be joined by his double-bass player Terry Simpson. Start time of 3pm through to 6pm - no charge at the door at this amazing little pub!

Thanking all our Jammers and Listeners,