WE were promised hot jazz and that’s what we got (writes Keith Clarke). With the barometer rising, Tenby’s Imperial Hotel welcomed a large and enthusiastic audience to the first post-lockdown jazz lunch on Sunday (July 10) – everyone very happy to be back in the Terrace Restaurant overlooking South Beach.

Kicking off what is now to be a monthly event on the second Sunday of each month, the Dave Cottle Trio raised the temperature further with a wide-ranging programme of Stevie Wonder, Django Reinhardt, Nat King Cole and a whole lot more besides.

Paul Smith’s work on the drums would have been worth the ticket alone, but there was brilliant playing too from Gary Phillips, fielding three different guitars, and from the multi-talented Dave Cottle on keyboard, trumpet and vocals.

Cottle may have had his map a bit skewiff as he encouraged us to enjoy the view of the Atlantic, but as the keyboard wizard of Swansea Jazz Club he knows his patch well, bringing the house down with a wacky number titled ‘They Haven’t Got a Takeaway in Mynachlog-ddu, You Have To Go To Letterston for Your Chips’.

Giving the keybard a rest he conjured up the spirit of Kenny Ball on trumpet before turning to Louis Armstrong for ‘Hello Dolly’ (‘It’s all about a sheep from Llandovery,’ he said).

Under new ownership, the Imperial Hotel impressed with a two-course lunch. The next jazz lunch is on 14 August when Duski blows away the cobwebs with some progressive jazz. Details at TenbyJazz.co.uk.