Lichfield show provided jazz with a heart and a touching dedication to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital

California-born bass player and singer Tom Hill composed a special tune, simply called New Cross, to thank the hospital for saving his life with two heart operations.

“I wouldn’t have been able to afford those operations in the United States,” he told the audience at the Cathedral Hotel in Lichfield.

Hill, long a resident in the UK, was appearing with keyboard player Phil Bond, saxophonist Chris Bowden and drummer Carl Hemmingsley in their Jazzadelic Experience band in a concert presented by Lichfield Arts Jazz and Blues.

And what a dynamic, thrilling performance they gave, laced with Hill's celebrated good humour and driven by precise and locked-in rhythmic drive from Hemmingsley’s drums.The band was straight out of the blocks with a searing, upbeat version of the standard song Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, with a powerful, blazing solo on alto saxophone by Bowden.

There were plenty of mellow moments, too, with Bond singing New York State Of Mind, and some stunning funky jazz with a tune made famous by U.S. soul jazz pioneers The Crusaders and titled Bayou Bottoms.

“This was named before the days of PC and wokery,” quipped Hill. “So tonight we’re calling it Non-gender Specific Posteriors.”

His NHS tribute song, New Cross, had an interesting switch of rhythms as part of its structure and concluded with a solo heartbeat tapped out on the side of the double bass.

Long may the beat go on.

The show was a perfect curtain-raiser for Lichfield Arts’ forthcoming Jazz And Blues festival, which officially opens on June 12 with trumpeter Bryan Corbett’s Instrumental Groove Unit at the Cathedral Hotel and runs until June 15 at the same venue.

For details, visit lichfieldarts.org.uk.