Soho Survivors

The first ever post on this blog was My Soho in December 2011. It covered some of my favourite Soho haunts and made reference to the loss of the unique character of the area as many of the long established businesses closed and the international chains began to move in.

That was in December 2011 and since then a number of other establishments have either gone or are under threat. The Astoria and music venues The 12 Bar and the Black Gardenia have been gone for a few years now, victims of the Crossrail development. Madame JoJo's a London institution has closed its doors for the last time in somewhat murky circumstances and the much loved Curzon cinema is also under threat - another potential victim of Crossrail. I'm all for improving transport across London but not at the expense of the city's cultural heritage and not if it means chaos in the west end for several years. Not surprisingly, a Save Soho campaign has been established.With all of this in mind, it's timely to revisit my beloved Soho and survey some of the remains of its rich cultural heritage. Here are some of my favourite Soho survivors.

Coffee, cake and jazz are three of my passions and Soho provides the very best of all three. Devotees of  patisserie are faced with the problem of choosing either Maison Bertaux in Greek Street or the original Patisserie Valerie in Old Compton Street. Both have a superb range of cakes and pastries, stunning window displays and interesting histories. Bertaux opened in 1871 and is the oldest patisserie in the city. Started by French refugees fleeing the Prussian siege of Paris, the owners lived upstairs and baked on the ground floor. Tradition has it that a lady of the night and a tailor also lived in the building so along with the tea rooms there was something for everyone. I have to confess to being a major fan of Berteaux due largely to the cakes but also because it is one of the few remaining places in the west end where you can see what were once called "characters" and where the regulars are known and recognised by the staff. My favourite place to sit is in the downstairs room where customers make their choices from the window before taking a seat either here, upstairs or in the room next door which was added a few years ago. There is occasional theatre in the upstairs room, but the whole place is dramatic, with its collection of assorted "stuff" in the downstairs room adding to the atmosphere. Those of you who have been will know what I mean!

Patisserie Valerie is a relative newcomer in comparison with Maison Bertaux. Originally in Frith Street it was founded in 1926 by one Madame Valerie from Belgium who wanted to introduce Belgian patisserie to London. The cafe was immediately successful and remained so until the Luftwaffe put a stop to things by bombing the building during the Second World War. Not deterred, Madame Valerie relocated to the current premises in Old Compton Street which retains much of its original 1950's decor. Both Bertaux and Valerie had a reputation as venues for secret assignations and each had their loyal customers who would not set foot in the other establishment. Patisserie Valerie is now a chain with several branches across London and in other parts of the country but the original Soho branch has kept its character and still has the air of an independent cafe.

The Algerian Coffee Store is a few steps from Patisserie Valerie at 52 Old Compton Street. Walking along the street you are likely to notice the aroma of freshly ground coffee several yards before reaching the red fronted shop. Founded in 1887 by one Mr Hassan, it has been under the direction of Paul Crocetta and his family for the last 40 plus years. Inside, there are more than 80 coffees from countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Bolivia, India and Papua New Guinea.  The beans are ground in front of you and you can ask for cardamoms and other spices to be added. There are also 120 types of tea, marzipan biscuits, Turkish delight, chocolates, mints and different kinds of coffee makers. The staff are extremely knowledgeable and can advise what to choose according to your preference.

Just around the corner from the Algerian Coffee Store, Bar Italia in Frith Street is another Soho survivor and a great place to drink mind blowingly strong coffee. Opened in 1949 by Italian immigrants Lou and Caterina Polledri, the cafe is still owned by the family today. The Polledris came to London in the 1920's and established a traditional Italian cafe in Long Acre, Covent Garden during the 1930's. Lou was interned as an enemy alien during the Second World War but Caterina managed to keep things going until he came home again.

When Bar Italia opened it quickly became a focal point for the Italian community, many of whom had been interned during the war years and who needed somewhere to meet, to swop news and to hear about employment opportunities. The cafe quickly gained a reputation for excellent coffee and was part of the "espresso revolution" that swept London in the late 1950's and 1960's attracting young people, especially hordes of "mods" who would park their Lambrettas outside. Bar Italia opens at 7 a.m. each day for breakfast, stays open until 5 in the morning and is always busy. The walls are covered with photographs of visiting celebrities whilst football matches are screened on a TV screen at the back of the cafe. I remember walking through Soho during the 1994 World Cup when an Italy game was being screened whilst the cafe burst at the seams with cheering football fans! Bar Italia has retain much of its glass and chrome decor as well as the original stone floor laid by family member Torino Polledri who was a terrazzo specialist.

Back onto Old Compton Street and at number 61 there is another Italian establishment, the I Camisa delicatessen. The shop has been here since 1961 but was originally at number 66 in the same street, opening in 1929 and closing ten years later when Ennio and Isidor Camsa were interned, first at Lingfield racecourse in Surrey before being sent to Warth Mills in Bury. The  Camisas then struck lucky. They were not included in a group of Italians placed on a luxury liner for deportation to Canada. They were lucky because the ship was sunk by a German torpedo and 730 lives were lost. The Camisas were released at the end of the war and returned to Soho to reopen their store. The shop is a delight with its cheeses, fresh pasta, delicious breads, wines and other Italian foodstuffs and like its near neighbour the Algerian Coffee Store, it gives off enticing aromas that help create the long queues that can often be found in the shop.

I rarely go to pubs these days but still enjoy an occasional visit to another Soho institution - the French House at 49 Dean Street. This Soho institution opened as The Wine House in 1910 under the management of German landlord Herr Schmidt. Schmidt was deported when the First World War commenced and was replaced by French speaking Belgian Victor Berlemont. Berlemont renamed the pub The York Minster and had a reputation for dealing with "difficult" customers by saying "I'm afraid one of us will have to leave and its not going to be me". During the Second World War the pub became a gathering place for French emigres including Charles de Gaulle who used the upstairs dining room.  

After the war, the pub began to attract an artistic, theatrical and literary crowd including Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Brendan Behan and Daniel Farson. Farson had the distinction of being barred from the pub for behaviour he couldn't recall. Must have been something to do with the drink! The walls of the bar room are still decorated with photographs of London's culture elite from that period. In 1951, Victor's son, Gaston took over. A real Soho character with his flamboyant moustache (which young women would sometimes be invited to examine) and frequent hand kissing, he further emphasised the French connections of the pub. Like his father he was also able to deal effectively with drunks once famously intervening when a woman had thrown her drink in the face of a man who had been annoying her by saying "But madame, I see your glass is empty" and then refilling it.

The French House has not been without a racy side. In the early 1950's it came close to being closed down due to "goings-on" in the toilets. It was also here that Francis Bacon met model Henrietta Moraes and asked her to pose nude for him. Photographer John Deakin took pictures of Moraes for Bacon to work from before going on to offer copies for sale to visiting sailors. Very entrepreneurial. 

The French House is alive and well although it is sad that the upstairs restaurant is now under separate management and serves Italian rather than French food. I have happy memories of sitting in that tiny dining room which appeared twice its real size due to the mirrored walls, enjoying good food and from my window seat watching all human life pass by in the street below. Gaston died in 1999 but several of his rules have been retained, including selling only half pints and banning mobile phones in order to encourage conversation!

And finally, the best jazz club in the world. Ronnie Scott's originally opened in Chinatown's Gerrard Street in 1959 before moving to its Frith Street home in 1965, offering live jazz six nights per week. The club featured such giants of the jazz world as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan as well as emerging and avant-garde musicians. Scott, himself an accomplished saxophonist ran the club until his death in 1996. I saw him just once when visiting London as a student in 1982. I visited the club with four student friends and saw Buddy de Franco perform. We were of course broke and managed to purchase only one bottle of Laski Riesling wine between us for the then enormous sum of £7 before rustling up enough change to buy a couple of unappetising burgers to share. Scott introduced the act, told a few jokes and threatened expulsion if people spoke during the performance. And he meant it. If only the same were true these days.

The club reached a peak in the early 1970's but then suffered a decline, facing potential closure at the end of the decade until Island records owner Chris Blackwell provided an injection of cash to keep it going under Scott's management. In more recent times, Ronnie's has been totally refurbished, improved somewhat its once dreadful food and formerly poor service and continues to attract the best jazz musicians in the world. Over the last few years I have seen, amongst others, Avishai Cohen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nicola Conte, Ramsey Lewis, Lonnie Liston Smith and Stacey Kent perform. This is probably my favourite place in all London with its great music, thrilling atmosphere and important history. 

Old Soho is gradually disappearing and there is a serious threat from that more will be lost due to increasing rents and the Crossrail development. Despite this, several of the older, cherished businesses continue to thrive and to attract new customers as well as hanging on to their loyal older clientele - like me. When Gaston Berlemont was asked what made the French House (and in my view Soho) special he said it was about the people "…they themselves create an atmosphere. Its no use putting up a couple of plastic onions and saying you're creating a French atmosphere, it doesn't work like that. Atmosphere is a human thing concerning hearts and souls". I agree with Gaston - but people need places to meet in which to create an atmosphere. It will be a sad day for London if any of these remaining Soho survivors disappear. 

Stacey Kent at Ronnie Scott's

Tonight, Stacey Kent and her four piece band delighted Ronnie Scott's with a selection of songs by Jobim, Valle and from the Great American song book. Outside it was a cold and grey Soho September night, but inside we were transported to the cool breeze of a Brazilian evening, and with just a little imagination we could have been in Rio, Sao Paulo or Bahia.

As well as celebrating the music of some of the greatest composers of all time, we celebrated the birthday of Jim Tomlinson, Stacey's husband, who demonstrated some less well known skills in addition to his magnificent saxophone and flute playing. But more of that later. The evening opened with two laid back songs - Marcos Valle's Double Rainbow and then another ballad, both of which served as a reminder of Stacey Kent's velvety, slightly understated but exquisite voice. Now, I enjoy improvisation as much as the next jazz fan, but hearing these great songs sung straight, supported by really tight band is very refreshing. 

After the mid tempo start, things speeded up a little with a nice work through of Jobim's So Danco Samba and then, from the great American songbook, Alan Brandt and Bob Haymes' That's All, written in 1952 and still fresh. In the same vein, we also had Rogers and Hammerstein's Happy Talk from South Pacific, with Stacey accompanying herself on guitar. Over the last few years we have seen albums in French and Portuguese from Ms. Kent as well as a number of more contemporary songs - all great but she really really shines on the standards which is where most of us first discovered her. Great news then that in November she will be releasing Tenderly, a new album of jazz standards. Can't wait.

The remainder of the first set included a couple more Jobim songs - a very cute version of One Note Samba, again featuring our heroine on guitar and an absolutely cracking version of The Waters of March sung in Portuguese. The latter was presented as a duet between her and husband Jim, who she revealed was once the lead chorister at Hexham Abbey and who surprised us with his very OK Portuguese vocal as well as a great contribution on flute. A nice touch and evidence of the very real musical partnership between this couple, with him having produced all of her albums as well as playing on them.

The link with Valle is more than just admiration for a great songwriter on Kent's part. She explained that together with her husband, she had worked with the great Brazilian on a number of projects, performed with him in Brazil and of course, recorded an album together a couple of years ago to celebrate his 50 years in the music business. This is a woman who the all time greats want to work with. The legendary Brazilian guitarist, Roberto Menescal plays on the new album and Booker Prize winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro co-wrote two songs for her with Tomlinson - The Ice Hotel and Changing Lights both of which she performed tonight.

Tomlinson featured largely in the second set with a magnificent reading of Bacharach and David's Alfie, written (he confessed) in the year of his birth - 1966 - and a tribute to the recently deceased Cilla Black. This was purely an instrumental reading but he made that saxophone sing every one of those famous words. Together with One Note Samba and  Waters of March this was truly the highlight of the evening for me. We returned to the Brazilian theme for the remainder of the second set - Valle's So Nice (a real classic with Bebel's version a favourite of mine) and another Jobim hit - Meditation, both given great readings. We were also treated to Valle's Cricket's Sing For Annemarie ( a lot of huggin' and a lot of kissin' and…) before one more Valle song - This Happy Madness for an encore. 

Surely one of the world's best jazz vocalists, Ms. Kent was ably supported by a most accomplished quartet. Jim Tomlinson's contribution s already noted but  Graham Harvey shone on piano (I'd like to hear more from him) whilst Jeremy Brown on bass and Josh Morrison on drums were also excellent. Great solo on Cricket's Sing for Annemarie by the way Josh and another great evening at Ronnie Scott's that was over all too soon. And one other good thing - it's the first gig I've been to in some time where I was able to enjoy the music without some nuisance talking throughout the performance. Perhaps there is hope after all.

Nicola Conte returns to Ronnie Scott's

Nicola Conte returned to Ronnie Scott's last night for the first of four concerts spread over two evenings. As ever, it was a show to remember with extremely polished performances from all concerned but the show was absolutely stolen by sax player Magnus Lindgren and female vocalist Melanie Charles who not only shone in their own right but treated us to a musical conversation between voice, sax and flute.

The first set is always a little shorter at Ronnie Scott's to ensure the second house gets started on time and cognisant of that, Conte led his musicians through a series of songs taken mostly from his two most recent albums Love and Revolution and Free Souls as well as a few other older number. The music flowed with very little chat from the stage and the audience liked that just fine. Opening with the instrumental number All Praise To Allah from Love and Revolution before Ms Charles took the stage to Spirit of Nature from the more recent recording (which features her voice). We were then taken on a musical journey through jazz, soul and African influenced tracks including the joyous We Get Our Love From The Sun, Black Spirits, Shades of Joy, Soul Revelation  and a riotous psychedelic soul version of the spiritual song, Sometimes I Feel Like  A Motherless Child  first recorded by Paul Robeson in the 1930's. 

Exquisitely elegant, Haitian born New York resident Ms Charles is a very talented young woman. In patterned dress and green shoes she treated us to a little of her skills on the flute, harmonising with Lindgren. But most of all this girl can sing and she gave us a hint of her scat skills on Hoagey Carmichael's Baltimore Oriole and We Get Our Love From the Sun. It would have been good to see a little more of that - but she's going to be around for a long time. Baltimore Oriole was given a good long workout with some great piano and flute and of course a soaring vocal. I have always loved Lorez Alexandria's 1957 and 1963 versions of this song but Nicola and the crew gave her a run for her money last night.

Conte is an egalitarian leader allowing his musicians to showcase their talents, not dominating, but very definitely holding the whole thing together on guitar and being the musical genius behind the ultra sophisticated Nicola Conte sound. The current combo is completed by three excellent Italian musicians, long time member Pietro Lussu on piano, rising star Luca Alemanno on bass and Marco Valeri on drums. Italy has become a real force in modern jazz with not only Conte but also Gaetano Partipilo ( a former member of Conte's combo), Gerardo Frisina (Movement surely being one of the best jazz albums of 2014) and of course gravel voiced vocalist Mario Biondi. In fact there was a bit of an Italian thing going on last night at Ronnie Scott's as Georgia Mancio opened the show and included Bruno Martino's 1960 composition Estate in her set.

My first concert at Ronnie Scott's for 2015. A great start.

Incognito live at Ronnie Scotts

Incognito had the audience on its feet at Ronnie Scott's last night, treating us to a selection of their biggest hits, some new songs and a musical tribute to George Duke who died this week. It's 34 years since the first Incognito recording was made and yet their sound remains fresh and appealing to both long standing fans as well as to a younger audience.

This is a big band, with bass guitar, keyboards, a trio of horns, drums, percussion and no less than four vocalists. Band leader and founder, Bluey has been constant throughout the years but Incognito has always been a band that musicians come in and out of and perhaps this has ensured the continued freshness. One of the leading exponents of what is sometimes known as "Brit-funk", Mauritian born Bluey was originally a member of another band from that genre - Light of the World but told the story of how he was displaced by another, younger guitar player which led to him forming his own band, Incognito.

The set began with Expresso Maduereira, an excellent and lengthy instrumental work out of a track originally recorded by Banda Black Rio but a regular track in the Incognito repertoire. This was followed by a number of more recent tracks before the real business of the night began with a fantastic rendition of Parisienne Girl - the band's first recording from 1979 and the track that first brought them to my attention. I have this track on 12 inch vinyl. It is still as sophisticated today as it was in 1979 and is at the jazzier end of Incognito's oeuvre. Their biggest hits - the Stevie Wonder number Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing brought the audience to their feet whilst their version of another Wonder song As kept them there. And of course, Always There which served as the finale brought the house down, with terrific vocals from Vanessa Haynes so memorably performed by Jocelyn Brown on Incognito's recording of this Ronnie Laws track back in 1990.

Ms. Haynes had also impressed earlier with her lead vocal on Ain't It Time You Went Home, described by Bluey as his version of a New York disco track from the 1970's - and this one had them dancing too. Whilst on the subject of vocalists, Natalie Williams, current darling of Ronnie Scott's was also on terrific form and new band member, Katie Leone took the stage to lead on one number and managed to win over the audience with a very big voice from a very petite frame! Lots more to look forward to from her. And it wasn't just the vocalists that shone. Francesco Mendolia and Joao Caetano played a stunning duet and the horns trio of Sidney Gauld, Jamie Anderson and Alistair White were also outstanding. Loved the footwork too boys!

All good stuff but the highlight for me was George Duke's Brazilian Love Affair which sounded exactly like the original - really - with that tinkling percussive intro, hard bass and keyboards and soaring vocals taking my right back to 1980 when I first heard the original which included Flora Purim and Milton Nascimento on vocals. Duke, such a loss. A great evening that sent me home thinking I must buy a turntable so I can get my vinyl out again!

Nicola Conte - more than entertainment at Ronnie Scott's

Last night Nicola Conte told a sell-out house at Ronnie Scott's that he (and his combo) were hoping to provide us with more than "just entertainment". He wanted to make the audience feel something. It was an interesting introduction and 90 minutes later, it was safe to say that he had achieved his goal.

I came to know his music only recently and have been won over by his eclectic mix of reworked 1950's and 1960's jazz classics, Brazilian tunes, the bossa-nova feel to much of his work and quirky numbers such as Fuoco Fatuo. I have also admired his use of female vocalists and his version of the standard Charade featuring Berlin based Lisa Bassenge is constantly on my i-pod at the moment. Last night was a little different as the team worked their way through a a number of songs from his Love and Revolution album of 2011.

There were a lot of people on the stage. As well as Nicola on guitar, we were treated to the fabulous piano playing of Pietro Lusso, Sardinian Francesco Lento - who was outstanding on trumpet, Helsinki native Teppo Makynen on drums, Gaetano Partilipo on saxophone and Paolo Benedettini on double bass. Five Italians and one Finn, all in tailored dark grey suites and ties - the epitome of European jazz cool. Makynen's drumming was accompanied by the most surprising facial expressions - groans, grins and grimaces whilst Conte maintained an almost detached concentration. After the opening two numbers, the musicians were joined on stage by vocalist Bridgette Amofah.

Although a little drowned by the band at times, Ms. Amofah gave an excellent performance in front of the most discerning jazz audience in London. She particularly shone on Max Roach's Freedom Day, Love From the Sun (once recorded by the great Norman Connors) and Conte's own composition, Love and Revolution. Freedom Day was an outstanding number not just for the excellent vocal, but also for the ripping, soaring, shrieking sax and trumpet duet at the beginning between Partilipo and Lento. Terrific. They also stole the show during the closing number Love and Revolution with a lengthy workout before Ms Amofah came back in to close things down. It was an appropriate choice of songs to end a set that had begun with Mr Conte's reference to the importance of music in the black liberation movement in the 1950's and 1960's setting the scene for the evening's programme.

I had been expecting a run through of his better known and more popular tracks, but his choice of a slightly more left-field programme was inspired. It is the second Ronnie Scott's gig in the last few months where performers have chosen to demonstrate a wider, less well known repertoire with enormous success  - I am thinking of the Jean and Doug Carne set in June last year. A great concert to begin the new year - and there's lots more to come.

Oh, and here's a little treat to be going on with...

The Return of Jazz Funk - Jeff Lorber Fusion at Ronnie Scott's

You might need to be over a certain age to understand the expression "jazz funk" and if you are you might have spent the late 1970's and early to mid 1980's in a variety of basement clubs or at "jazz funk all nighters" in places with names like "Mandy's", "Togo's" or the "Top Deck" dancing to tracks by artists such as Roy Ayers, George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Crown Heights Affair, Eddie Henderson and a whole lot more. Many of these artists were respected jazz musicians who produced a number of extremely danceable "crossover" tracks during that period, which for me at least, was one of the most creative times in the history of popular music.

Being much too old to go clubbing nowadays, but also being a huge fan of JazzFM, I have been very pleasantly surprised over the last couple of years to see my beloved jazz funk begin to re-assert itself, not just through the re-discovery of the classic tracks of the genre, but also by a whole slate of new recordings. This has been helped tremendously (and probably precipitated) by JazzFM running their Saturday night Funky Sensation sessions, upstairs at Ronnie Scotts and releasing a jaw dropping series of double-CD compilation albums of the same name. I bought Funky Sensation 3 today and am listening to it as I blog!

Tonight at Ronnie Scotts, a sell out audience was treated to one of the masters of jazz funk in the shape of Jeff Lorber Fusion. Mr. Lorber has never really been away but has released two killer albums in the last couple of years - Now Is The Time and Galaxy. Tonight, accompanied by long time musical collaborator Eric Marienthal on a variety of saxophones, Nate Phillips on guitar and Sonny Emory on drums, he took us through a number of more recent compositions including Montserrat and Surreptitious both of which were extremely well received by an enthusiastic (and slightly older than usual?) audience, whilst a long version of Chinese Medicinal Herbs from the Now Is The Time album received cheers and whoops as well as a BIG hand!

Jeff Lorber played some pretty technical pieces seemingly effortlessly, even commenting on one piece that he hadn't really wanted to do but that the band had talked him into. He said he was glad he had played it. So were we. His musical conversation with Eric Marienthal's saxophone was one of the highlights of the concert for me, but the prize for showmanship MUST go to Sonny Emory for a mesmerising drum solo that included some very fast and fancy manoeuvring of the sticks that would have surely won a medal in those rhythmic gymnastics Olympic competitions!

These are artists who clearly know each other very well, who are accomplished at taking the lead or supporting the rest of the band and each of the four were showcased throughout the too short performance. This was demonstrated very clearly for me on the show stopping Rain Dance - a real Jeff Lorber classic, first recorded in 1979 and then appearing again on the Now Is The Time album with a searing vocal from one Irene B. During the introduction to the piece, Lorber told how he almost crashed his car when driving in Los Angeles back in 1993 when he heard it being "sampled" by Lil Kim on her Crush On You track. Apparently he was pleased that Rain Dance would reach a new audience, but somewhat shocked that nobody had seen fit to tell him it had been used by Ms. Kim!

Tonight's concert was the only UK date on the quartet's UK tour and was only the second time that Philadelphia born Jeff Lorber has played at Ronnie Scotts - an early present for him ahead of his 60th birthday on November 4th! A few years ago he became seriously ill with polycystic kidney disease and is still with us due to a successful transplant, courtesy of his wife.

A couple of moans from me. How can Ronnie Scott's not be able to get its espresso machines either fixed or replaced for a Saturday night? Something strange was going on in Soho this evening - I had dinner before the show in a nearby restaurant which was unable to supply coffee of any kind, and then went to another place for dessert to find that they had no ice-cream! It really shouldn't be that hard in the centre of London for goodness sake. And whilst you are sorting the coffee machine how about getting a bit heavier with those amongst us who can't keep quiet for two minutes? Ronnie would have had their liver. Perhaps its my age.

Rant over. A great night of instrumental jazz/ jazz-funk that has tempted me to go to the Funky Sensation club night...wonder if I can tempt some friends from the old days to come with me...Paul, Louise, what do you think? And by the way, does anyone know if you can get Eddie Henderson's Running To Your Love on CD? Its not on Youtube (yet) which is a bit of a surprise...

Jazz genius Avishai Cohen - stompin' at Ronnie Scotts

For an encore they gave us "Remembering". Heart-achingly beautiful. Heartbreakingly beautiful. And for five minutes or so I am not in a rainy October London, I am standing on the shore at Tel Aviv as the Mediterranean sun sets in all of its purples, reds and oranges as the sky slowly darkens and the tide laps in. And then they were gone and I have to go for the tube!

Tonight was the second of three nights at Ronnie Scott's for Avishai Cohen, who has to be the best bass player in the world as well as a pretty fantastic pianist and a mean guitar player. He also sings rather wonderfully too - although tonight he didn't treat us to the voice. Supported by two other maestros - Omri Mor on piano and Amir Bresler on drums, the show opened with a lengthy working out of "Dreaming" from the "Seven Seas" album, and this set the tone for the evening with exquisite interplay between the three musicians - Mor working his magic on the piano and introducing an "oriental" sound to the proceedings, whilst Mr Bresler was infinitely more than the man who holds the music together, regularly taking the lead and as Avishai himself said, challenging the other musicians with innovative and inventive rhythms.

The trio worked their way through a number of recent  recordings including the title track from the "Seven Seas" album and three tracks from the recent and remarkable "Duende" album - "Soof", "Calm" and "Ballad for an unborn", the latter two being beautiful ballads soothing the audience after some earlier duelling between the musicians. We were also treated to a remarkable tribute to Lebanese songstress Samira Tawfik when the trio put two of her songs together and gave them the Avishai Cohen treatment. This had the audience whooping and shrieking - whilst a couple of other numbers had a distinctly middle eastern feel to them and also received a good reception.

I liked Omri Mor's cheeky reference to Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm" during one of the numbers, as well as his almost permanent smile and obvious delight in performing, whilst Cohen performed some amazing facial gymnastics that would rival the skills of some of the most accomplished mime artists. Every time I see Avishai Cohen play I am reminded of the physicality of being a musician. His performance its not about standing on the stage and playing beautifully, it is about his relationship with the instrument; talking to it, moving with it and using it to speak to the audience. And he is a showman too - putting down his bass and joining Omri Mor on the drums to support the "lead" drumming of Amir Bresler during the penultimate number to further shrieks of delight from the audience. It really doesn't get any better than this.

Amir Breslau is just 22 whilst Omri Mor is also less than 30. I saw Mor play at Levontin 7 in Tel Aviv a few years ago accompanying the great Maurice el Medioni - surely we must have an album from him soon? I don't know how a small country like Israel produces so many great jazz artists - Omer Avital, Yaala Ballin, Ilan Salem, Shai Maesto, Yonatan Avishai, Ari Erev, Anat Cohen, Yuval Cohen ( and the other, trumpet playing, Avishai Cohen - no relation to tonight's Mr Cohen, but brother of Anat and Yuval, oh and there's another Yuval Cohen who plays piano!) -  and this is only part of the story. The jazz scene there is small but beautiful with many young artists coming through. There are a number of hot jazz clubs and there is also the now twice per year Red Sea Jazz Festival, for which Avishai Cohen has been artistic director for the last few years.

Our Avishai is playing Ronnie Scott's tomorrow night - but it is sold out not surprisingly, so uness you an squeeze in, you'll have to wait until 7th May next year when he is playing the Barbican. Don't miss it - I'm booking my ticket as soon as I post this and then going to bed happy!