Thorns In Velvet: Fats Domino and Ray Charles at the Capital Jazz Festival

AMONG the collection of venerable antiques paraded for this year’s Capital Jazz Festival – couldn’t the organisers find anybody of note under the age of 35? – it was appropriate that Antoine "Fats" Domino should have opened the proceedings, both as a metaphor for the resilence of musical talent – Domino in 57, going on 16 – and because his ample and genial presence, more than any other, embodies the spirit of New Orleans, the cradle of jazz.