After last week’s low attendance it was an enormous relief to see a near-full house on a night when our two houseband guests - Steve Tolton and Russ Cottee - had travelled all the way from Southend to be with us – and what a terrific night it turned out to be! Problems concerning the PA caused a frustratingly long delay in beginning the opening houseband set, which included six numbers from The 251s’ huge repertoire – my only blot on a faultless performance was to inadvertently follow someone else’s setlist rather than my own which included a few important instructions, catching me out at times. Thankfully, it didn’t detract from a very fine performance from not only ST and RC, but also from Phil Overhead and our MC Mike Dearing. By the time we were beginning to start “Matchbox”, it was patently obvious that we needed to make that particular number our last offering owing to even more people arriving.

The delayed start caused the jamming session to be put back somewhat, although with Vera’s careful arrangement we still managed six full jam sets with just about enough time to get Steve and Russ back on stage at the end of the night – three numbers in fact, that extended quite late into the night with the addition of Steve Walsh on his mini keyboard. It was such a pleasure to have these two members of the 251s as our houseband guests, and we’ll very much look forward to seeing them back here in the near future – our thanks to Steve Tolton and Russ Cottee for another polished performance!

With 20 jammers on the roster, it was a nice problem to have, making sure everyone played three numbers per set, some of them getting double helpings.

What a nice surprise it was to see Jimmy C’s Bluesdragon Paul Soper here after a very lengthy absence. An even bigger surprise was to see him giving us a vocal number in dedication to his good friend Flex Flechsler who is, sadly, undergoing cancer treatment back home in Germany – needless to say, we wish him well, with fond memories of him guesting here with Jimmy C a few years ago.

Another welcome visitor was guitarist Kouki Dannie Taniguchi, who is on a two-week visit all the way from Japan. With his good friend and fellow guitarist Steve Cook also here, it made sense to pair them up on the fourth jam set - and at their request, I joined them along with Ned Phillips and Phil Overhead.

In all my years of Blues jamming, I’ve never had the need to add a Melodica to the list of instruments played, but Raf put an end to that by bring one along and making good use of it too!

I must thank Ray Wallen for not milking his jam set owing to time fast running out. I was a bit concerned when he played a slow Blues for his last number, but a slow Blues soon become a “quick” slow Blues if you know what I mean. Thank you Ray, it helped to enable our houseband guests to play an extra number at the end of the night.

An extremely busy night was enjoyed by so many, so a big hand to all our valued jammers. Time to call…

The Roll Of Honour:

• Vocals - Ray Wallen
• Harp+Vocals - Bo
• Bass+Vocals - Paul Soper
• Guitar+Vocals - Billy Sharpe, Kevin Molyneux and Steve Cook
• Guitar - Ian Hammond, Richard Stenhouse, Chris Greene, Sam, Kouki Dannie Taniguchi, Russ Cottee, Murray and Roger Davison
• Harp - Ned Phillips and Jonathan Reid
• Keys - Steve Walsh
• Sax - Peter Harvie
• Melodica - Raf Azzara
• Bass - Maxwell Paternoster. Mike Dearing, Richard Stenhouse and Terry Duggan
• Drums - Marc Turner and Phil Overhead

After last week’s no-show mp3s, I’m pleased to say they’re back this week with thanks to our Webmaster Ken Cumberlidge. Peter Harvie’s batch of photos can now be viewed on Our Facebook page.

Thanks as always to everyone who helped setting up the backline, with special thanks to Kevin Molyneux, Ray Wallen and Steve Walsh for helping to pack it away at the end of the night.

Next time at Leytonstone Blues Jam:
Next week our houseband guest will be The Feelgood Band’s front man Mark Sibley. Mark is no stranger to the Leytonstone Blues jam, and it's always a real pleasure to see him here. So please arrive early, and - PA gremlins notwithstanding - we'll get off to an early start of 8.30pm.

Something for the weekend:
Every Thursday, our resident drummer Phil Overhead hosts his Blues jam at the new venue of The Three Compasses, 62 High Street, N8 7NX starting at 8.30pm – free entry, plus a very competent houseband and backline provided.

On Friday 25th October at The Southgate Club, their featured band will be “Jamie Williams Roots Collective” plus support from “Phil Davison & Trevor Cooper”. For further information, check out www.stharmonicas.co.uk

On Saturday 26th October at The Manor Arms, 150 East India Dock Road, E14 0BP, the extremely talented Michael Goulding will be making his very first appearance as special guest of Ronnie Collin’s Last Project 3.00pm-6.00pm. Michael is in much demand, so it’ll be a real treat to see him at this crazy but very friendly little pub – no charge at the door, please use beer-garden entrance after 3.00pm.

Thanking All Our Jammers & Listeners,