LIVE MUSIC: Jazz Meets Jive in Worthing

JAZZ Meets Jive as Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen team up with The Jive Aces for a two-band spectacular at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre on Friday, February 3 at 7.30pm.

Ian Clarkson – vocals, trumpet and Jive Aces co-founder – is delighted with the collaboration.

“Kenny invited us to his 50th (anniversary celebration) in the business.

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We were guests for that, and it just went so well. Prior to that, we had just done a short charity gig with him and met him a couple of times at festivals, but this was packed out and all his friends were there and it was great.

“We ended up having a jam session, and he said we should take this on the road.

“We toured a few theatres and it just took off.

“We couldn’t think what to call it, but he’s jazz and we’re jive so it became Jazz Meets Jive.

“I think the most important thing is that everyone gets on personality-wise.

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“Kenny is 80, but he is basically like a kid! But from when he first came in and had a rehearsal with us, it just went really well.

“Everybody just got on. The music is obviously the common reality, but we just did really all get on.”

The Jive Aces are one of the hardest-working bands in show business today, performing more than 300 shows a year in more than 25 different countries.

They have appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows all over the world.

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A group of lads from London, they were drawn together by their love for a style and music that outclassed anything around.

The music was hot jive that had the beat, energy and enthusiasm of rock ’n’ roll and the fun and rhythm of big band swing all rolled into one.

And things just keep on getting better and better.

They enjoyed Christmas working in Athens, a city where everyone goes out on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.

The band had two 90-minute sets to complete: “We thought how on earth are we going to do that, but we actually ran over time. It was great!”