The column they’re queuing to be in...

Much mayhem and misnomers at the launch bash for the London Jazz Festival held at Holborn’s Shanghai Blues which saw a stellar turn out of musicians, including Andy Sheppard, Stan Tracey, Orphy Robinson, Denys Baptiste, Juliet Kelly, Finn Peters and Abram Wilson as well as promoters, press, BBC Radio 3 and jazz industry types all doing their best to empty the free bar in record time. The Magners cider slipped down far too easily as the salsa dancing became increasingly wild and clothes were flung in all directions, though thankfully not those of the Time Out’s Kerstan Mackness who contemplated a few wiggles before falling asleep on the train home and waking up deep in the Surrey countryside hours later. Jazz Jamaica’s Philip Harper was continually mistaken for both David Okomu and Courtney Pine while the Evening Standard’s Jack Massarik regaled all with tales of derring do on the high seas, or was it just a yacht trip round the Med. For a few brave souls from Air PR and Babel the evening ended at 4am in the Soho House bar while our best wishes go out to the unfortunate guest whose taxi home turned out to be an ambulance…

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