"A Recital of Jazz" was announced. What we got was a glorious lunchtime hour at Ormskirk Street URC today (23/7/08) as a 'scratch' jazz group offered a positive master-class in relaxed music-making. An enthralled audience watched and listened captivated, as the players tossed the familiar tunes back and forth to be reworked by various members of the group in turn, genuine improvisation from a group who came together specially for the occasion, with some on-the-spot decisions even as to repertoire.

'Think Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt ' had sounded perhaps a little fanciful - until you heard them.

Tom Sykes and Don May are best known to most of us as violinists in the St Helens Sinfonietta - but today they laid aside their scores, added some subtle amplification, and sailed gloriously free through a whole string of favourite melodies, including 'Tangerine', 'Misty', 'Ain't Misbehavin', 'Stardust', 'Black Orchid', 'Sweet Georgia Brown' and a Django Reinhardt number based on 'I like Music'.

With Les Bolger on guitar, Peter Robinson on Bass and Ken Critchley on drums, all sounding as smooth and assured as if they do this every day, and an audience delighted by our own local version of the Grapelli/Menuhin collaboration, And did you notice? For jazz, Tom plays a specially-made five-string violin/viola - giving him that lovely mellow sound and extended range, complementing Don's 'Grappelli' beautifully.

More please!