Quantic Soul Orchestra / Mr Doris (DJ) / The Shadow Orchestra

As we made our way into the venue, support band The Shadow Orchestra took to the stage and gently warmed us with their laid-back genre defying sounds. A kind of electronica, jazz, folk sound which in places was not dissimilar to The Egg. They kicked off with a track entitled 'Spring', their instrumental line-up consisted of drums, cello, harp, guitar and a laptop computer. It had been a while since I'd been so entertained by a support act and I made a promise to myself that I would seek out more of their work.



DJ Mr Doris came on after their departure to up the pace a little. Playing hip-hop, funk, and even a jazzed up version of Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name of'.

Koko was filling up, the capacity much bigger than the previous London venue of choice - The Jazz Café. The 18-month break in Quantic Soul Orchestra's tour schedule had obviously served only to make their public more hungry to see them. Releasing an album as good as 'Tropidelico' in the interim doesn't do any harm either.



Will Holland led the latest evolution of his band on stage and got stuck in straight away. The Tropidelico album and this subsequent tour have a much more Latin American sound than before. Not a complete change in direction, their sound moved on and the opening tracks created the feeling of a street party in warmer climes.

Noelle Scaggs (also well known for her work with The Rebirth), joined them on stage and belted out a powerful version of 'Pushin' On'. Originally recorded with Alice Russell on vocals, there were going to be obvious comparisons between Russell and Scaggs. Both possessing huge voices capable of melting chocolate from 100 meters, Noelle Scaggs vocals seemed to suit the tropical soul, funk, jazz sound of the evening perfectly.



Smiles steadily spread across the faces of band members and audience alike as we were wowed by the deft touch of legendary pianist Alfredo Linares. I heard someone call him a Latino Jools Holland but didn't really think that did him justice. His skills were complimented perfectly by percussive sounds from Jack Yglesias and Malcolm Catto and bass of Jamie Eastman.

All too soon we were samba-ing our way to get a drink when Will Holland announced the last track of the evening. As the band left to a wall of applause, we took our positions for the encore. Again more applause and they played through Tropidelico, Who Knows and treated us to 'Babarabatiri' (the one from the Guinness advert). The final song signalled our time to depart but summed up the party vibe of the evening perfectly, a great song to end the evening on. We wearily made our way out having enjoyed the gig from beginning to end, and sad that it was all over.



One question was left unanswered. Where would Will Holland's travels take him next? Personally, I wouldn't mind him staying around south America for a while!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.