KENDAL Jazz Club enjoyed a treat when "The Harmony Hounds" played at The Brewery's Malt Room.

With a more formal approach, the band wore smart, striped blazers and sat behind cartoon-dog shaped music stands to play in a style reminiscent of theTemperance Seven.

However, there were only four of them and the unusual line-up consisted of Mike Burns trumpet, John Hallam clarinet, alto and soprano saxes, Chris Howse banjo, guitar and vocals.

Not least was Colin Turner on the underrated and seldom heard bass sax whose staccato oom-pahs traditionally played by an ODJB-style sousaphone, or in more recent years by the more mellow string bass, provided a rich, rasping harmonic foundation as well as some adept solos.

They played standards from The Golden Age of Jazz in "Grand Hotel"-style syncopation with occasional dips into numbers from years as recent as 1936.

Interestingly there was no encore.

When they said Al Jolson's "Toot-toot-Tootsie" was to be the last number, they meant it, although those present would clearly have enjoyed much more of the same.

MW.