"A whole new world" (don't you dare close your eyes): Jazz in the big smoke

The Lincoln Centre is where the Met Opera and New York Philharmonic is based, and there are a number of concert halls and exhibition areas. Think of it like our Southbank and NT combined.

Handily it is just a few blocks north of where I am staying, so I scuttled up there for some free lunchtime jazz.

The Gotham Jazzmen have a couple of hundred years of experience between them and it was an enjoyable way to spend a lunchtime - listening to some Dixieland Jazz.

The audience was interesting...mainly seniors. I was the youngest person there by about 30 years! A scrap nearly broke out when one of them decided to talk on the phone during the concert, then started shouting at people when they asked him to stop talking on the phone! The performers carried on regardless but it was all a bit awkward and proof that bad manners are alive and well in every generation. My favourite audience member got up and gave us her best jazz hands whilst jigging about in the front row. No mean feat when you are about 80 and your hair is a deep pink...

I then took myself off to the Frank Sinatra Exhibition in the same building. Being quite a FS fan, it was great to see so much memorabilia whilst his music filled my ears at every turn. There were suits, hats, some of his artwork, family artefacts, an Oscar, some gold discs and lots of wonderful black and white photos and original film posters.

As Dean Martin once said, 'It's Frank's world, we're all just livin' in it'.