Calexico, The 100 Club, 5th April 2006

Last night I saw this band I haven't really heard of, in a cosy little venue on Oxford Street. I know this is probably going to make one of my occasional readers insanely jealous (sorry...), but to be honest, I don't think you'd get much more out of the little gig than you would out of something like their forthcoming Kentish Town Forum gig.

Anyway, the guitarist/singer was a fantastic guitarist, with an excellent stage manner. Their Mexican trumpet player sang one song (from their new album, I'm told) and that was a lot of fun, much more upbeat than most of the rest of the set. They used a double bas on a couple of numbers, which is always welcomed by me, as a jazz enthusiast. And then afterwards they sort of wandered round the crowd chatting to people, for the most part, which was pretty cool. Ok, you wouldn't get that at the Forum, but they didn't speak to us, so I'm not sure that's an issue. All in all, it made me think that I need to go and see Joe Zawinul next time he plays Ronnie Scotts, cause that's another place where the acts wander around the crowd afterwards, and I'd love an opportunity to speak to someone who knew Jaco.

And Michelle, you're right, I really did like Calexico, and I'll see if I can buy/obtain an album or two some time soon.