It was a month of happy encounters. Just before the Roberto Pla Latin Ensemble‘s Friday residency at Plaza Park, Westminster Bridge Road, trombone poetry boarded The Ship in Kennington Road as a guest at Carl Chamberlain’s open mic. The highlight was Jenny Lockyer, in one of an amazing 30 performances she gave for The Children’s Trust this month.
A dash of ruM was added to the Spoonful of Urban Poison in Whitechapel Road, with Mike Walter belabouring a squeezebox and sopranosaxing alongside this trombone. Dangerous T did another wild inside-out set of 90% banter and 10% material, and Jazzman John Clarke took the wooden spoon of banishment to the round midnight slot. Would he see it as poetic justice?
Plunging south-east, trombone poetry returned to the jazz jam at Mycenae House in leafy Blackheath, reuniting with the brilliant Anton Browne for a couple of songs.
NEON, creators of the annual Elefest, presented the second Elevate event at Hotel Elephant. Chewbatucada pounded out samba rhythms, John Constable regaled us with geese and ghosts, trombone poetry recited elephantic poems, and Smokey Taps featured rising star Matthew Benson, last heard boosting the sounds of that remarkable pocket orchestra, The Blowpipes Trombone Trio.