Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth (to give them their full titles) are both octogenarians but have more vitality and energy than the likes of Ms Sinead O'Connor - they, and their family, gave an outstanding performance (sadly it was probably not recorded). It was a delight to sit through a concert of highly professional and entertaining performers. Dame Cleo's voice has lost none of its edge over the years, she may have slowed down a bit but there was no diminution in quality. Her daughter, Jacqui, also has a powerful voice and together they were just incredible - their rendition of 'Woman Talk' was, for me, one of the highlights of the night.
This was another of those concerts which we left feeling that we had not been short-changed. Here was a group of people who not only performed professionally but enjoyed what they were doing, as did the audience (from the 5 week old baby to the 90 year old woman - though one of them did sleep through the whole performance). From the word go Johnny, Cleo et al achieved instant rapport with the audience by chatting to (and with) us about the music and even a little bit of family history. It was a night to remember and hopefully one to be repeated - we all hope with Johnny that it will not be another 7 years before they are invited back.
