The mighty Jazz Jamaica have rightly earned their reputation as “one of the UK’s leading good-time bands” (The Independent) from their many exuberant live performances and dynamic album releases over the past two decades. 

It began with some sad news as founding member Gary Crosby revealed he had been in an accident a couple of months ago that left him unable to play. But the gig had been booked over a year ago, so rather than cancel he stepped back into the role of compere to allow his fellow musicians to take the reins. And they certainly didn’t need to be asked twice. The whole evening was filled with an infectious party atmosphere, the band’s tight, light reggae rhythms inspiring whoops and dancing from the crowd from the first song to the last.

They played a range of genre favourites from "The Liquidator" and "My Boy Lollipop" to Bob Marley’s "I Don’t Want To Wait In Vain For Your Love". It was not just party music, though. There was true jazz in there, including a bit of Herbie Hancock, all delivered with confidence and panache. There were clever riffs and witty improvisational references to artists as diverse as Stevie Wonder and Scott Joplin. The solos were uniformly inventive and engaging, with the trumpeter in particularly commanding close attention.

Crosby was a fabulous compere. Appearing muddled and unsure of the set list, he nonetheless garnered such affection for his quick and easy humour. ‘Did you enjoy that? Well, let me put a stop to that now…’

Just as you were beginning to miss the narrative power of a vocalist, Crosby introduced guest singer Cherise Adams Burnett, whose gorgeous versatile voice offered a fresh range characters to populate the convincing Caribbean world the band had conjured. "Don’t Stay Away", her opening song, was particularly heartfelt and touching while "No, No, No" was whined through with a provocative, serpentine tone.

The large appreciative audience was rivalled in size only by the band itself, which was so large and energetic as to almost demand an extension to the stage. Percussion and drums, guitar, trombone, two saxes, keys, double bass… Crosby himself, perched on a stool, was almost toppling off stage left. The encore was nothing short of miraculous as the support act, Female Collective, a nine or ten strong group of female jazz artists on the Tomorrow’s Warriors programme, somehow bended the physical laws of nature to join Jazz Jamaica on stage.

The word Jamaica on any flyer immediately garners the attention of a crowd of people mesmerised and awed by the cultural connotations of that beautiful island. The word jazz has the same pull for often a very different audience. Putting them together was a stroke of genius.