It was a fairly full folk session at The Plough Inn this afternoon and with some longish songs bought to the table (album length versions of both Stairway to Heaven and Layla!) so my turn to lead only came round a couple of times.

My first contribution was the jazz standard Autumn Leaves, befitting the season, and my second, apropos of nothing in particular, was Diving Duck Blues. As far as I can find out, the latter was originally recorded in 1929 by Sleepy John Estes although I discovered it about 30 years ago through the work of Taj Mahal, who I think is responsible for the cool riff I associate with the song. It is a blues with fairly nonsensical lyrics so I took versions from Estes, Mahal and Johnny Winter and distilled them down into my own take on the piece.

Today’s pieces were all on the double bass although I’m seriously considering how I might get the tuba back in for the next one.