The popular Neil Maya Quartet returned to Kingsbridge Jazz Club’s sojourn at The Regal capping off another successful year for the club in bringing the very best of jazz to the South Hams. Showcasing the band’s prolific repertoire of cartoon jazz was an inspired idea for a Christmas party. Who doesn’t enjoy the fun and sheer joy of those early Disney cartoons and their ability to use music to complement their storytelling? The early animators found that jazz was the perfect music to convey sad, dramatic or romantic moods. And in the days before social media, jazz musicians found that cartoons provided the perfect way to spread their music across a wide audience. Louis Armstrong was even featured in some of the cartoons, which helped him to become a household name. An early one was I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal with Betty Boop in 1932.

The set opened with the classic Warner Brothers Loony Tunes introduction, which immediately set the scene for the rest of the evening. Band leader Neil Maya played saxophone, a beautiful looking clarinet, and briefly a triangle which gave a festive feel to some of the numbers. Gary Evans was in fine form on drums, Kev Sanders on double bass and Tom Ball on piano demonstrated a lovely tight sound. We are lucky indeed to have such fine musicians based in the southwest today.

Many of the numbers played came from Dave Brubeck’s top selling album Dave Digs Disney, featuring songs from Snow White and Alice in Wonderland amongst others. It was a family trip to Disneyland around 1957 that inspired Brubeck to make his cartoon tribute. Highlights were Heigh-ho, Someday My Prince Will Come and Give a Little Whistle, featuring some audience participation whistling. Also featuring strongly were numbers from Jason Rebello’s Jazz Rainbow album which he produced to appeal to a discerning young audience. The band lovingly recreated the Spiderman theme and When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio.

Most of the songs could be linked in some way to cartoons, but there were some exceptions, such as Neil’s own composition All Change, Please. With its catchy chorus, the number sounded like it could have made an ideal accompaniment to a Marvel movie. The rest of the set list covered a trio of CGI related content and TV series such as Scooby Doo and The Simpsons. We even had the classic Pearl and Dean song Asteroid heralding the interval.

Top marks must go to the Kingsbridge Jazz Club team for the festive decorations and mince pies as the band played out to the Flintstones theme. Yabba dabba doo!