Our oldest grandson, Otto, is learning the saxophone, so for a birthday treat we decided to take him with us to the Little Ship Club Jazz Night, writes Caroline Quentin.

He has been to the club several times before, to the wedding of our elder son Peter, to our 40th wedding anniversary party, and to the Lord Mayor's Show.

Roland Perrin, the leader of this talented group is a composer as well as a performer, and it is well worth visiting his web site at www.rolandperrin.com, to find out more about his background and the various musical traditions that he embraces, traditions that range from classical, through traditional jazz and rag, to Latin-American particularly Brazilian, Cuban, and African, to modern pop.

Geoff took Otto up to the group as they were setting up, and although he was disappointed to find their saxophone player, Kirco Cowan from Cuba was not with them on this occasion, he was excited at the prospect of listening to Roland on the keyboard, Ray Crespo from Cuba on the bass, and percussion player Helder Pack from Mozambique.

We arrived fairly early as we don't normally drive and were worried about the traffic, so we spent the first hour or so drinking and chatting, and feared Otto was getting a bit bored. However one or two people came to chat to him, and then the group began to play and continued for half an hour or so until the buffet was served, resuming after everyone had finished eating. Otto thoroughly approved of the buffet, which was salmon and new potatoes, followed by individual fruit vacherins (he managed to sneak an extra portion of salmon but as several were later taken back to the kitchen I don't think he deprived anyone). We then moved back into the lounge and settled into the comfy leather chairs to listen to the music.

Otto is just 13 and a polite but rather shy boy, and it was impossible to tell whether he was enjoying himself. He has a habit of staring into the distance and looking as if he is miles away, so we were worried he was getting bored. We both danced a little but did not like to leave him on his own for too long, however we stayed until the end of the evening. The music was so good it  was difficult to tear ourselves away. Geoff used to play bass in a group in the dim and distant past, and loved every minute of it. We were particularly impressed with the precision of the percussion.

Eventually we left, and as we got in the car I said to Otto with some trepidation, "Did you enjoy yourself?" His eyes lit up; "It was brilliant" he said. "They played lots of the tunes that I play - it was totally brilliant!"