Jazz Singers for Hire in Kensington & Chelsea

How does one categorise Earl Okin? It’s a hard task, perhaps impossible. He is a performer and entertainer, a singer and instrumentalist, a songwriter, a satirist, a philosopher, a political commentator, a comedian, a fount of knowledge, a raconteur and quipster, a thought-provoker and perhaps the last wearer of spats in the country. Earl Okin returned to the Rye Jazz and Blues Festival last Saturday, August 28 and delighted a packed Brewery Yard Club in Rye with a magical programme of songs linked by a commentary of dead-pan and self-deprecatory brilliance. He and remade My Way for all pianists (“I want a Steinway”). He altered our perceptions of “One for my baby” by singing it from the barman’s point of view and in the barman’s voice and reminded us of the genius of Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington. Many of Earl Okin’s song performances are greatly enhanced by his skill with accents and especially by his ability to become a jazz trumpet of beguiling charm and swe