Britain's' only Jazz Royal family finished up their four day session at Seattle's Dimitriou's Jazz Alley last night. Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth are 82 years old each and have been married and performing together for over five decades. To say they are legends would belittle the word in a sphere of the music industry where it is frequently overused.
Born of Jamaican-British parents as Clementina Dinah Campbell, Laine received childhood singing training but didn’t take singing seriously until she was in her 20s. Dankworth was raised in a musical family and studied piano and violin before settling on the saxophone as his instrument of choice. As Cleo told us in one of her many though entertaining anecdotes her West Indian father, her father used to spontaneously burst into song just about anywhere.
Now Dame Cleo Laine, DBE and Sir John Dankworth, they are both graceful and resplendent on stage but haven't lost that self-deprecating common touch which entertained an audience between numbers. If there are any notes, the octogenarian cannot reach, it was hard to detect as she demonstrated the vocal dexterity of someone one quarter of her
Musically, they hit some old favourites including "Slow Boat to China", "It A'int What You Do, It's the Way That You Do It", "Hallelujah", "Accentuate the Positive", and an instrumental of Georgia on My Mind. Behind them were a splendid backing group consisting of gloriously fuzzed pianist Larry Dunlop, devastatingly dashing (I am told) Ed Neumeister on the trombone, My apparent fellow countryman Seward McCain on the strings and Jim Zimmerman who did a fine job on percussion.
Every seat was taken as we sat mostly in awe of jazz greatness. Dankworth commented that the Alley was one of his favourite genuine jazz clubs around the world. I can see why. It's intimate without being pokey. The sound engulfs it well, and best of all Dave Brubeck's here in a week. Can't wait, and I'm no jazz aficionado but if class comes to Seattle, Seattle will always welcome it.
Last night, I saw class, grace, elegance and star quality. I hope I have just one of those by the time I reach 82.
Stanley Jordan at the Jazz Alley.
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