BETTER THAN TV'S NEW MUSIC
A Monday evening in late August and the Rishi Sunak offers almost coax us out of the house. Suddenly we yearn for the clink of shiny restaurant glasses and no washing up but it’s too late. No one responds on the phone. Booking is over for today and a rather old fish pie is the fallback.
Which is where Song from No Man’s Land flashes into the scene. One brief listen and Ronnie Scott’s is the place and there you are, cocktail in hand and cool jazz buzzes in a wall of sound. What a brilliant set Sergio Contrino has conjured from what is clearly a talented ensemble. The music blasts so very reassuringly – suddenly CDs are magic and my companion and I are there, in a world far from the twilight pallor of late kind-of lockdown, where no one springs apart when you walk towards them and the groove is where it’s at.
Sergio’s set of musicians is wonderfully synchronized. There’s a piano here I last heard in Paris’ St Germaine’s premier jazz club Chez Papa on Rue St. Benoit. I wonder how they’re doing these days? Are the waiters still impossibly tasked with winding up and down a metal spiral staircase carrying four meals at a time? Is Madame still as charming as ever, sliding into the seat opposite lone gentleman diners to brighten their evening whilst Papa himself sits at the bar? But with this music the sadness and the loss is in the past. Here is a group of precision tuned players. Their work has a driving bass from founder /leader Sergio Contrino, an inspirational drums with accomplished samba rhythms from Joe Davighi and that must-have of all atmospheric jazz, a beautiful trumpet from Gabriel Bilard and Louis Day (on separate tracks) alongside Alastair Appleton’s sexy saxophone.
Not that this CD is predictable. A lyrical woman’s voice Cassie Gorman, haunts the opener before the instrumental only parts begin Oh and there’s a trombone, thank you Simon Fothergill.
This is pure Cambridge Jazz .All of it recorded at Anglia Ruskin studios and mixed and mastered at Metropolis Studios. All right Better Than TV might not be the catchiest band name but it is in fact true. It is. We listened for an entire evening. And also tried the follow up slimmed down Churchill College production with a zingy cover by Cambridge\s own Zoe Klinck. Late is Sergio Contrino again but with a new tighter line up. Sergio continues to excel with his mysterious bass. Listen hard to just this for a number or two and the full scope will emerge. It is genius level bass play. Now there’s a trombone from Tom Green and Gavin Spence doubles with trumpet and flugelhorn whilst David Burgoyne gives an authentic thrill on piano and Ed Blake is steady on drums.
With talent like this, Cambridge is well set up for its own homegrown jazz event. Get hold of these CDs if you like surprising, original but bluesy late night music. It works wonder
The brilliant talent behind Better than TV
