ALISON CROOSE It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing… and there was swing a-plenty when The Cotton Club Band and the Jiving Lindy Hoppers hit town.

ALISON CROOSE

It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing… and there was swing a-plenty when The Cotton Club Band and the Jiving Lindy Hoppers hit town.

They re-created the action-packed entertainment which made the Harlem nightspot the mecca of jazz in the 1920s and 1930s – and what a show it was.

This was solid gold entertainment. Seven highly-talented musicians – including the much-admired pianist Keith Nichols with his consummate stride style – teamed up with singer Joan Viskant to present the hot rhythms of the era.

Its icons, including Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Lena Horne, Bessie Smith and Cab Calloway, were represented in classic numbers ranging from Stormy Weather and Do Your Duty to Minnie The Moocher and Dinah.

But the night belonged to the six all-action Jiving Lindy Hoppers. The band's strict tempo enabled the dancers to give an incredibly highly-charged and energetic performance in numbers such as the Charleston and Black Bottom.

They held the Corn Exchange audience spellbound, especially with their synchronised tap dancing. Their piece de resistance was One Man Dance, a routine featured at the Cotton Club. It was electrifying.