IT was just as well that I remembered to switch off my mobile phone.

Jazz star Ray Gelato has composed a musical rebuke to those who fill the railway carriage airwaves with annoying endless phone conversations.

It is called Get Off The Phone! And the engaging number was part of his play list as he gave a ring-a-ding performance at one of his favourite musical haunts.

He and his multi-talented band were headlining an international jazz night at the Stoneham Lane club.

The popular bandleader dedicated one of his saxophone ballads to Concorde boss Cole Mathieson for “keeping jazz alive in this country.”

Ray can truly say that he is an entertainer by royal appointment.

For he has twice been requested to perform by personal invitation of the Queen.

And he has shared the stage with rock royalty, opening for Robbie Williams at the Royal Albert Hall and playing at former Beatle Paul McCartney’s wedding.

With more than 25 years in the business, Ray has been described as the last in the long line of great jazz entertainers. And he certainly lives up to that billing.

His unique brand of swinging and foot stompin’ music has taken him around the globe, appearing at many famous venues including The Blue Note in Milan.

Hot on the heels of his Eastleigh appearance he has a date at another legendary jazz spot, Ronnie Scott’s London club.

On an idyllic summer’s night Ray Gelato and his band breezed onto the Concorde stage opening the first of two sets with When You’re Smiling, made famous and recorded three times by Louis Armstrong.

Duke Ellington also recorded it several times in his early career.

Ray, who has written his own cook book and includes recipes on his website, served up a veritable feast of music.

It was spiced with classics from the song books of a glittering array of American jazz band legends and composers including Hoagy Carmichael and Count Basie.

The audience was also taken back to the New Orleans roots of jazz.

There was also some rhythm and blues mixed in with the tantalising blend of jazz and big swing show stoppers.

Ray, who moves effortlessly from vocals to tenor sax, put a spring in the step of every number.

Great interpretations of My Kind of Girl, Mack The Knife and I’ve Got The World On A String from the 1932 Cotton Club Parade.

Let’s hope it is not long before the king of big band swing graces the Concorde stage again.