Roly Veitch Trio at the Quadrata Café

The main problem with the Quad Café is the acoustics. In some parts of the allocated space the sound is totally indecipherable whilst other areas are hit by an excess of echo. In consequence, this led to an occasional inbalance between the three players.

Nevertheless, despite this obstacle, the trio played a very listenable hour of standards. Roly sang and soloed in his easily identifiable style with Neil Harland solid in support. Sue Ferris on tenor seemed to be the one least affected by the acoustics; her smooth sound and flowing lines pure delight.

"All the Things You Are" bore comparison with any of the zillions of versions I've heard, "Besame Mucho" had Roly vocalising on one of my favourites with Sue fluting it and "Long Ago and Far Away" had good solos all round including Roly's almost wistful reading of the lyric.

My only complaint - the raised eyebrows from a nearby table when my colleagues and I had the audacity to applaud a solo!