Leroy Jones preview: tickets for tonight’s show available
New Orleans jazz legend Leroy Jones will be appearing at The Alban Arena in St Albans [Picture: Katja Toivola] - Credit: Archant
For all the hype that has surrounded Leroy Jones’s return to the UK, he is surprisingly humble.
He took to the stage at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho on Sunday and thanked the audience for the variety of London’s restaurants.
“I love all kind of food,” he said, “Vietnamese food, Mexican food, and English food – I love me some fish and chips.”
The audience laughed when Jones, noticing the waiters and waitresses, said: “Oh and pizza too, of course.”
His shy, New Orleans drawl won over the audience instantly and from then on we were putty in his hands.
The Leroy Jones Quintet – an Anglo-American mixture of guitar, trombone, drums and double-bass – flew through a medley of carefully chosen jazz classics interspersed with recollections of Jones’s time in England.
As a singer, Jones has the archetypal New Orleans jazz voice which perfectly complements the band, but as a trumpeter, he steals the show.
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The band’s rendition of Pennies from Heaven was a joy to behold and made you ask yourself why you don’t go and see live jazz more often.
He’s playing at the Alban Arena tonight – and I highly recommend you go and see him.
There are a few tickets available; to buy, click here or call 01727 844488.
