The FB Pocket Orchestra, Whitbourne Village Hall, Herefordshire, 06/12/2015.

The FB Pocket Orchestra are a three piece band from Fareham, Hampshire who specialise in music from the 1920s and 1930s, often played with a vintage jug band / tea dance feel. I caught a tantalising glimpse of them at the 2015 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in Abergavenny when they played a set that was very well received at the ‘Jazz Alley’ venue in the town’s famous Market Hall.

I saw enough of them to realise that even though this wasn’t music from one of my favourite jazz eras or genres that the FBPO were still three very talented musicians who knew how to work a crowd. Their festival performance was definitely a hit and I resolved to check them out more fully when they undertook a short tour of venues in my native Herefordshire later in the year. 

The Orchestra describes itself as playing “hot jazz, blues, ragtime and popular dances of the 1920s/30s and earlier”. The three members, Jenny Russell, Ollie Corbin and Paul Stevenson all sing and play a variety of instruments. They all have an obvious love for, and knowledge of, the music of their chosen era and present their repertoire in a professional manner that is both humorous and informative.

This performance at Whitbourne Village Hall, just off the main road between Bromyard and Worcester, was presented by Arts Alive in conjunction with local promoter Rob Slater. Arts Alive continue to do a superb job of presenting professional productions across a variety of artistic genres at rural locations across the counties of Herefordshire and Shropshire.

The nature of the music played by FBPO, all of it dating from the pre LP era, ensured that each of their two sets was jam packed with short, catchy songs, many of them highly familiar. Russell was the group’s main singer, a technically accomplished vocalist who delivered the sometimes risqué material with a flirtatious twinkle in her eye. She also proved to be a skilled clarinet soloist and also doubled on washboard during her colleagues’ instrumental solos. Paul Stevenson specialised on guitar and banjo and occasionally rattled a tambourine. Meanwhile Ollie Corbin acted as the band’s spokesman and played a bewildering variety of instruments including tuba, accordion, cornet and bass drum. 

The trio kicked off with a spirited take on “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” with Stevenson’s rhythm guitar and Corbin’s tuba bass lines supporting Russell’s cheery vocal and lively clarinet solo. Stevenson also contributed a succinct solo of his own as Russell switched her attention to the washboard.

Corbin switched to accordion for the depression era anthem “Buddy Can You Spare A Dime” which featured a convincingly bluesy vocal from Russell.

The Reverend Gary Davis song “Say No To The Devil” then added a gospel element to that bluesiness with Russell adding amusing contemporary references to the lyrics. The instrumentation here included tuba and banjo with Stevenson sharing the solos with Russell’s clarinet, the latter adding a quote from “Jingle Bells” to her feature, just to give everybody a little seasonal reminder.

Corbin informed us that Julian Robledo’s “Three O’ Clock In The Morning Waltz” was made famous by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and was one of the first records to sell over a million copies. It was also mentioned by F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby”. Russell played the melody on clarinet over Stevenson’s waltz time rhythm guitar with Corbin subsequently doubling the melody on accordion. Like all of FBPO’s material it exuded a delightful period charm.

Corbin first discovered Blind Blake’s 1928 song “Diddie Wa Diddie” on the Ry Cooder album “Paradise and Lunch”. Corbin handled the vocals himself on this much covered song, here delivered as something of a novelty item with solos from Russell on clarinet, Stevenson on banjo and Corbin on muted cornet.

Solo banjo introduced “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” a traditional blues/gospel song covered by Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, Uncle Tupelo and others. Russell’s authoritative vocals were complemented by her own clarinet solo and a feature from Corbin on tuba.

The risqué lyrics of “If I Can’t Sell it I’ll Sit On It”, notionally about a piece of furniture, found Russell at her most coquettish with guitar and tuba in support. The same instrumentation also graced the song “Comes Love”, which originally appeared in the Broadway musical “Yokel Boy”. Russell’s vocals were supplemented by instrumental features for clarinet and guitar.

“Dolores Waltz” was written by Emile Waldteufel (1837 – 1915), the author of the more famous “The Skater’s Waltz”. Clarinet, accordion and guitar was the chosen configuration here with Stevenson soloing above Corbin’s accordion vamp.

Corbin informed us that the FBPO had recently performed as part of the “Late Night Jazz” series at the Royal Albert Hall where they had performed the eternally popular “Dinah”, a tune that has also become something of a gypsy jazz staple. The trio’s typically good humoured take on the song featured Russell’s clarinet and vocals, Stevenson’s guitar and Corbin’s underpinning tuba.

The equally well known “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” ended the first set with the group members sharing the vocals and with Corbin and Russell producing some delightful instrumental interplay on muted cornet and clarinet respectively. Some equally satisfying exchanges then took place between clarinet and banjo. All in all an excellent way to round off a good humoured first set that included a broad selection of material and some highly accomplished vocal and instrumental performances.

After a break for tea and biscuits (sadly no licensed bar!) the second set continued in the same vein commencing with a playful “Exactly Like You” featuring a combination of voice, clarinet, guitar and tuba plus Russell on occasional washboard.

The FBPO have already released two albums, their eponymous début from 2012 and “Boot That Thing” (2014), the latter a collaboration with Temperance Seven guitarist/banjo player Mike Deighan. The group’s third recording will be released in 2016 and will include “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” performed here on voice, clarinet, banjo and tuba with Russell’s clarinet solo taking the instrumental honours.

Corbin has a long standing love of the playing of cornetist/trumpeter Bubber Miley, once of the Duke Ellington band. Miley also played with bandleader Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy band and this was the source for “I Lost My Girl From Memphis” a feature for Corbin’s vocals and Miley style cornet playing with its growling plunger muted vocalisations as Russell provided an engaging clarinet counterpoint.

Introducing Irving Berlin’s “Russian Lullaby” Corbin related the tale of Berlin’s extraordinary “transposing piano” which he used for composing. Despite his obvious brilliance Berlin had no formal musical training and the transposing piano allowed him to alter the position of the keyboard allowing him to play in different keys. Here his song was a chance for the members of the FBPO to show their own instrumental abilities on guitar, tuba and clarinet with Russell also demonstrating her vocal skills.

Written by Blind Blake and Jimmie Rogers the song “In The Jail House Now” appears on the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers film “O Brother Where Art Though”. Played by the FBPO on banjo and accordion the piece also featured some Jimmie Rogers style yodelling as the trio added a country influence to their music making.

The lyrics of the Lonnie Johnson song “Wipe It Off” added another hint of sauciness with Russell’s clarinet solo the instrumental highlight as Corbin puffed at the tuba and Stevenson strummed at a banjo while operating a tambourine with his foot.

Scott Joplin’s “Palm Leaf Rag” appeared on “Boot That Thing”, the album that the trio recorded with Mike Deighan. Stevenson took Deighan’s role on banjo here augmented by Corbin on tuba and Russell on clarinet.

Corbin took the vocal on “Charleston” and added some more Miley style cornet alongside Russell’s clarinet and Stevenson’s banjo. Leadbelly’s enduring “Good Night Irene” then elicited something of an audience sing along with Corbin this time soloing on accordion.

Leadbelly also popularised the work song “Black Betty” which listeners of a slightly later vintage probably remember best from the late 70s rock version by the Ram Jam Band. The members of the FBPO sang it accapella with hand-claps, a neat variation that helped to transport the song back to its roots.

The set concluded with “St. James Infirmary Blues” with Russell’s bluesy vocal well complemented by more vocalised cornet and Stevenson’s taut acoustic guitar.

The deserved encore was “Bei Mir Bist du Schon”, a song that I’m used to seeing being performed by the Bristolian band Moscow Drug Club. However I was also impressed with FBPO’s version with its sultry Russell vocal and wildly accelerating guitar and clarinet solos. A fun and high energy finale for a highly entertaining evening of music, wittily and informatively presented and featuring some excellent singing and musicianship.

It’s not the type of music I’d necessarily want to listen to at home but as a live event the FBPO’s performance was a highly enjoyable experience, a view with which the rest of the audience at this well supported event seemed to concur. Well done to Arts Alive, Rob Slater and his team and, of course, The FB Pocket Orchestra for a very entertaining and successful evening.