Jo Kimber was the featured attraction yesterday at the Albion, Hove’s premier afternoon jazz spot. Always a popular attraction at the pub, she was backed by two veterans of London’s legendary Mandrake Club—Mick Hamer on electric piano and Gerry Higgins on bass. It was a highly experienced rhythm section. Mick and Gerry first played together at a pub called the Vulcan on the Isle of Dogs. And that was 46 years ago—almost to the day—in January 1969.

The tenor player Dave Quincy, also an habitué of the Mandrake Club, stopped by to sit in. The Mandrake was a home from home for London’s professional musicians in the late 1960s. At the time Dave was the tenor player with the pop group Manfred Mann. Dave, who is back playing after a recent illness, joined the band for numbers like How High the Moon and I thought about you, which brought an enthusiastic reaction from the audience and had several couples dancing in the crowded bar.