A FEW months ago I drew reference to the fact that The Sparrow Hawk Hotel in Burnley was putting on weekly jazz sessions at Sunday lunchtimes.

Well, I am delighted to be able to pass on the news that, after a short summer recess, the sessions have restarted with some good people booked to take local jazzers through to the end of the year.

An office colleague has this week been eulogising about a young vocalist called Alexandra Lorence, whom she had seen last Sunday, singing to the piano accompaniment of Jeremy Sassoon. It just goes to show how small a world this really is!!!

I first met Alexandra (or Alex as her mates call her) a couple of years ago when she turned up at a Jeriatric Jazz gig with her mum and dad to ask if she could sing with the band on our guest spot.

She couldn't have been more than 18 or 19 and looked nervous but it was a different tale when she started singing as it soon became very clear that here was a young lass with a great deal of talent and potential.

Since then, I'm happy to tell you, Alex has gone on to make quite a name for herself, winning 'Young Jazz Vocalist' at the Pizza Express in Preston and singing regularly with The Wigan Jazz Club Big Band.

It's unusual for such a young woman to take such a keen interest in jazz but Alex has obviously spent hours listening to 'greats' like Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald and it shows in her choice of songs and interpretation of them.

She still occasionally pops up at my band's gigs and gets up to do a couple of numbers with us. If you see her name advertised anywhere, go along to see her. You won't be disappointed.

Incidentally, the Sparrow Hawk will be welcoming The Steve Childs Band on Sunday, followed by Ed Kainyek Quartet (Oct 20) and Jazzarama (Oct 27).

Meanwhile, over at The Rhythm Station in Rawtenstall, the resident Tommy Melville Quartet are looking forward to the return visit of the wonderful American alto player Lanny Morgan, who shot to fame as a young lion in the great Maynard Ferguson Big Band of the 1960s.

Since then, Lanny has played every major festival around the globe and is universally recognised as the nearest thing to Charlie Parker it is possible to get.

Personally, I get all weepy when I think about Bird. As a much younger man I used to listen to tracks of Parker and some of the West Coast giants he ran with and think: "How great it must be to be able to play an instrument to that standard."I admit that as a drummer I'm not the best qualified judge in the band, but for me Charlie Parker's playing, was, and still is, the nearest thing to heaven I'm ever likely to experience. Only Sinatra -- and the three jazz divas (Holliday, Vaughan and Fitzgerald) I mentioned earlier have anywhere near the same effect.

Listening to Buddy Rich, while inspirational, can also bring on feelings of total inadequacy!