Though not exactly stormy Monday, this damp evening did keep a few blues fans indoors.

Those braving the first chill of winter took time to warm to a brand of jazz formerly known as mainstream but now a more isolated backwater.

Trumpeter Digby Fairweather's Half Dozen still play it with dexterity and enthusiasm, particularly pianist Craig Mulverton and saxman Julian Marc Stringle. A curious mixture of trad, swing, rhythm-and-blues and barbershop vocals figures in this parallel universe but their opener, This Could be the Start of Something Big, sounded increasingly inappropriate until Brit blues guru, sometime actor and pop-star Paul Jones appeared.

Still slim and personable after aeons with Manfred Mann and the Blues Band, he sang more powerfully than in the early decades and played harmonica considerably better.

Taste was never an issue for him, though, so sandwiched between worthy 12-bars (Big Fine Girl, Ain't Got Nuthin' but the Blues, Room and Board, Alright Okay You Win) were turkeys such as Oh No Not My Sweet Baby and Pretty Flamingo, teeny bopper pap from the Sixties. And though billed as a George Melly tribute band, they dedicated only one number to him, Old Rockin' Chair's Got Me.

It was enough.

�� Until tomorrow (020 7439 0747).