The Wolfson Hall auditorium was host to a seated concert on Saturday, playing a varied set of classic standards to funky numbers by Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock and James Brown.  The group is a fairly standard 19-piece ‘big band’, and is dominated by the 13-strong brass/woodwind section (12 if you exclude band leader James Brady, who both directed the performance and played the occasional trumpet solo with assured ease).  One gets the feeling that Brady is the driving force behind the group, and his self-deprecating ridicule of the use of such Jazzer phrases as ‘cats’ and ‘hip arrangement’ was both amusing and proof of his immersion in Jazz culture.

As Brady pointed out, the format is extremely versatile, and Benny Golson’s ‘I Remember Clifford’ demonstrated its potential subtlety, with the interplay of swelling saxophone, trombone harmonies, and Brendan Musk’s excellent lead trumpet capturing the emotional quality of the song beautifully.  Classics such as  ‘Georgia On My Mind’ were played in the traditional style - offering few surprises but a nicely polished delivery - whilst in the second half the band displayed a more modern repertoire to good effect.

There were, however, some slight technical issues: singer Lucy Cronin was unfortunately inaudible for much of the first ‘swing’ set, especially when the mighty horn/woodwind section was in full voice (and one has to wonder why those on the sound desk allowed this situation to continue for a full three songs).  This was perhaps a blessing, though, during a somewhat awkward duet with male singer James Duboff, in which the vocalists’ winces further added to the impression of difficulty.  However, on the whole both singers performed well, with Duboff’s likeably boisterous stage manner and strong voice complementing Cronin’s Jazz-queen poise.  Cronin has recently returned from a stretch in Germany, and the band appeared to be thoroughly pleased at her reappearance - none more so than Duboff, who described Lucy as “delectable”, whilst a shaky dance routine by the pair looked suspiciously like on-stage courtship (although the very unprofessional nature of the movement prevented any serious nausea, instead merely provoking mild amusement).

The second, ‘funky’ set was preferable to my ears, and here the rhythm section really came into its own.  Drummer Ed Blake provided solid, lively syncopation and some complex and well-considered solo bars, which were complemented by Will Lewis-Smith’s percussion and Pete Aisher on bass. The latter could perhaps have engaged in a little more ‘funk’ attitude, and the tone of his 5-string occasionally lacked low-end punch.  These are trifles however, and Aisher seemed comfortable playing both walking and funk basses.

Charismatic director James Brady’s arrangement of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’ was a highlight, whilst the keys solo in ‘Gospel John’ was reminiscent of Medeski, Martin and Wood in its stripped-down feel.  The lack of a guitarist was disappointing, although there were some sterling solo performances, particularly from Ajay Ratan on tenor sax and Brendan Musk on trumpet.  However, even in the second set the big-band arrangements, although undeniably giving a rich, feel-good energy to the performance, tended towards the conventional - I found myself continually hoping for something more harmonically dissonant (perhaps some John Schofield-esque twang from his big-band work with arranger Vince Mendoza).

Overall this was a confident, tight and enjoyable performance, despite some technical difficulties and a lack of the harmonic ‘bite’ I’m so partial to.  These faults, however, are highly subjective, and it would be great to see the band’s upbeat swing-funk repertoire in a standing concert – there would surely be some nostalgic Lindy-Hopping and Jitterbugging from those ‘hip cats’ amongst us.