JAZZ NITE the REAL THING
The Minister of Epsom Methodist Church, David Winwood, invited a few ecumenical friends to accompany him in presenting a Jazz Nite for the church.
People said it was a ‘stunning evening’, a ‘super show’ and ‘beyond expectation’ !
Steve Henwood, Youth Pastor from the King’s Church , arranged the music, gave, superb performance on the keyboard , included a few blasts on the trumpet and sang a couple of songs – ‘I wanna be like you’ from Jungle Book and a funky blues song, that brought the house down.
The show opened to a packed church with the mellow sound of ‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess with Dan Shackell, a clergyman attached to St.Martin’s C of E , leading on the saxophone , as he did for many other popular jazz numbers like ‘Desafinado’, ‘The girl from Ipanema’ and ‘Watermelon man’.
Pete Tye, from the Generation Church staff, played some amazing bass guitar solos and Nigel McDonnell, Methodist, did the same on the lead guitar.
The audience simply loved Freya Eve, King’s Church, who had us spellbound with the power and sensitivity of her singing – ‘Moon dance’, ‘You are the sunshine of my life’, ‘All of me’ and many more. In contrast, Susan Clarke took the lead on the violin , with ‘Satin Doll’ and in ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’, whilst Pete, trombone, and Abby , tenor sax , beefed up ‘Tequila’ and ‘The return of the Prodigal’. David, the Methodist minister, had the audience laughing as he compered the show, he gave a few cracking drum breaks and sang a few songs including ‘Chatanooga choo choo’ and ‘Beyond the sea’, and that’s when Tim Cheung, from the Chinese congregation at the Methodist church, sat in for David at the drum kit – splendidly.
It did not take long for the band and the audience to warm up. They were clapping and moving to the infectious rhythms throughout this warm spirited evening of music and fun, which also raised over £2,000 towards Epsom Methodist Church building project, which will be underway by the autumn.
Photographs with thanks to Aileen Shackell