'This Can't Be Love'

Doors 6.30pm music starts at 8pm

My first exposure to jazz came in the form of two albums that my parents owned. The first was a dixieland jazz compilation & the second was Ella Fitzgerald singing 'The Rodgers & Hart Songbook'.

It was only later in life that I realised what an influence that Rodgers & Hart album had been on me. Such an extensive catalogue of well known beautiful songs and yet Rodgers & Hart as a partnership often seem overshadowed when 'The Great American Songbook' is referred to. I knew Paul was a fan of this great songwriting partnership and asked him if he would be musical director for an evening devoted to their work and happily he agreed. After their first Broadway hit Rodgers & Hart never looked back with a string of successful musicals & films. They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943. An often tempestuous & fractious relationship was punctuated by the brilliance of their writing partnership.

A superb line up of musicians and an informative narrative of their life & work promise to make this an interesting & entertaining evening. One of the very best drummers in the U.K, the now legendary Paul Higgs on an array of instruments & the Keen brothers on piano and bass who have become the go to for many discerning artists. Tonight we endeavor to convey the quality and frequent humor which they brought to all of their compositions