Given his exhaustible credits from pop to bop over the last thirty years, it’s not surprising to find the chameleon-like trumpeter Guy Barker at the root of this magnificent gala of voice. Much more than playing the show’s dutiful director, and tonight conducting a snappy 40-piece orchestra through two tireless sets of swing and soul standards, it was Barker’s weighty arrangements of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 'My Favourite Things', Motown obscurity 'Bad Weather' and a captivating 'Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square' (sang by Ian Shaw, Mary Pearce and the remarkable Gregory Porter respectively) that kicked this show, and indeed London’s jazz festivities wide open.

Initiated by a horn section-heavy tribute to the Impulse label, Barker’s brew for part two showcased more ‘variety’ from his eight-strong cast of vocal virtuosos, with heart-rendering readings of 'Strange Fruit' (Ayanna), Sam Cooke’s 'A Change is Gonna Come' (Shingai Shoniwa) and Lucinda Belle’s sassy 'I Don’t Know Why', before leaving this flushed full-house with a role call croon-a-long through Armstrong’s 'Wonderful World', and maybe a cue for their rapturous applause warming under Barker’s upmost attention and sensitivity towards ‘the song’.

– Mark Youll