MUSIC

No 1 Harbourside, Bristol (Thur 29 Sept) “¿QUE ES UN TERREMOTO? Un terremoto es el movimiento brusco de la Tierra.” Or so our good pal Mr G. O’Ogle tells us. Keyboard player extraordinaire Jim Blomfield is uncharacteristically apprehensive before the debut of this new Bristol Afro-Latin seven-piece band. “It’s like the other Latin stuff is Grade 6 and this is Diploma level,” he observes, cryptically. Then – kapow! With the minimum of announcements (delivered through Craig Crofton’s clip-on sax mic), Terremoto kick in and the earth does, indeed, begin to move. This could be due to the solid battery of percussion from Rory Francis (congas), Sam Tomkins (timbales etc) and John Blakeley (drum kit), or the relentless precision of Sol Ahmend’s bass, the cross-rhythmic intensity of Blomfield’s piano or the skin-tight lockdown of Johnny Bruce’s trumpet and Crofton’s tenor sax. But mostly it’s down to the impeccable rightness of the whole thing, giving a faithful account of the exhilaration of a top Cuban dance outfit with the jazz satisfaction of a splendid septet. That this is their debut performance makes it all the more exciting – how good will they get? The moments when the rest pull back and let the three percussionists work the grooves make it clear where the foundations lie, and it would be good to hear more of that, but then again the brass solos add real fire and Blomfield’s trademark 10-finger barrage is a complete treat. As you can probably tell, it moved for me, and to judge by the passers-by stopped in their tracks outside the bar, I’m not alone. Just wait till the salseros and salseras get to know about this lot. (Tony Benjamin)

Copyright Tony Benjamin 2011