FLORIAN ARBENZ ORGAN TRIO AT HIDDEN ROOMS

Chris Cheek as captured by Mike Harris at Hidden Rooms

The Jazz life is not for sissies. travel is tough - the band came to Cambridge straight from Aberdeen today. And this talented group of maxed -out talented musicians were already internationally diverse. Spectacular saxophonist Chris Cheek all the way from the USA,, Arno Krijger from Holland - all in thrall to Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz unusually leader of the group.

Arno Krijger with the Hammond

The result was more a nuanced soundscape than a traditional jazz line up - although the virtuoso Sax showed there was no shortage of classical musicality - Chris Creek supplied in bursts of welcome genius on the ‘how does he do it?’ scale.

Yet nothing was predictable . The Hammond organ brought atmosphere in measure, the softened sound a result of Arno Krijger’s suble technique - playing with his feet for bass business - but free to fly into creative spheres of sound with his hands. Remarkable.

The band pushed the boundaries certainly with long sustained numbers , more like a sequence of mini concertos, than a series of songs. Confident and classically controlled, Florian Arbenz ‘s Trio made a new sound, sometimes soothing, other moments almost atonally abstract. Missing was the welcome sound of a base line , possibly because the Hammond organ controlled base with his feet it felt not quite the same as a central reliable base. And it might be the price we pay for a drums -led band. Still, on numbers like Bolt there was base aplenty and ironically the farewell encore.

An adventure certainly, a new experience and all garnered from the world over. Can you beat that?