WHISPERING SMITH: Trad Jazz on a sunny Saturday afternoon

He was an elderly gent, he put me in mind of the rugged old movie star Victor McLaglen.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Jun 2017, 10:00 BST
Updated 4th Jun 2017, 21:27 BST

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Jazz at the DolphinJazz at the Dolphin
Jazz at the Dolphin

He settled himself at the table next to mine, took out a curled stemmed briar pipe, packed it with tobacco, tamped it down and fired it with a gas lighter.

The sweet smoke drifted over to my table and seemed to blend in perfectly with the music.

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Traditional jazz usually played by the Vintage Hot Five with, on occasion a guest band, in the sunny and wind sheltered grassy garden of the Dolphin public house in Littlehampton’s High Street and indoors if the weather is miserable.

I am not a great lover of pub music, usually far too noisy and over amped, if you can hear anything other than the drummer you are pretty lucky, but this was acoustic, pure and simple.

I stumbled upon it completely by accident, fancied a pint and went in.

You too can be lucky, if you enjoy some Hoagy Carmichael, the Count, the New Orleans sound, Fats or Louis drop into the Dolphin every Saturday afternoon from 2pm until 5pm.

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Enjoy a chat with the musicians and let’s keep live music alive in Littlehampton and, as far as I am concerned, diversity is the order of the day...

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DO not despair if you have noticed the demolition of a small section of the old flint wall on the western boundary of our pitch and putt golf facility.

Due to a need for mower storage, lost because of the work on the new swimming centre, a shed is being erected in the corner by the first tee and the new gap will house a tastefully constructed gate.

The tee will be moved several yards to the right and will make it a downhill pitch to the first hole which may help me a lot although, I once made that a ‘hole in one’.

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FARE thee well, Roger Kirk, another good man gone.

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