The Over-beating Heart.

For our compact family, Thursday 21st May saw the wonderful Norfolk and Norwich Festival draw to its close. So much to see, hear and experience in so very little time! The truth being that there were actually three fancied performances on the Thursday evening alone but that Mr Cowley, having thus far eluded me, had been that little bit more keenly sought.

The Neil Cowley Trio was the third act of the week that we'd elected to watch. I'd been a fan since the release of the group's 2012 album, 'The Face of Mount Molehill,' so as soon as I knew he was scheduled to perform these were obviously the first tickets to be sought. Row three, stage left, these seats were going to prove significant!

Those familiar with The Trio will know that Neil's jazz combo has carved a tiny niche of spectacular uniqueness for itself, in a musical genre already bursting at the seams with so many mind-blowing and diverse talents. There is a pulsing drive to this group- often ostensibly piano based- slightly darker, with more dangerous undercurrents than one might usually expect from a jazz trio. Yet this is sprinkled also with the gentler, more conventional smokey jazz-club 'standard' numbers. Still, for me, it is invariably that thumping driving energy that best reels me in!

So 'twas to be the concert's second half, the meatier cuts compiled almost entirely from the group's better known stuff, that grabbed me most firmly by the throat. Numbers such as, 'Rooster was a Witness,' 'Fable,' 'His Nibs,' and 'She Eats Flies,' leaped off the stage and dragged the Cowley faithful to the edge of their seats. Feet began a-thumping, fingers a-tapping, and Evan Jenkins's drumming became ever more acrobatic, stop-start racing, a clipped perfection! Centre stage, Rex Horan swayed twisted and caressed his double bass through an increasingly complex routine, throwing also some more haunting bow work into the mix. And Mr Cowley grinned directions from stage right or else rolled with the tempo, like a helmsman battling through a gale force eleven, beating the keys with an intensity more befitting of a heavy rock combo. A tightly woven musical tapestry to spin the head, the joint was a-rocking, or conceivably a-jazzing!

And here's where our keenly sought third row seats' significance hit home! The one minor blemish if you will! As the trio really hit their straps so the tempo upped, the acrobatics intensified, the tightly woven syncopations became increasingly complex- at times not unlike turning a supertanker in a goldfish bowl- undertaken with the deftness of a hummingbird switching flower-heads mid-heartbeat. The drumming ricocheted about the stage, seemingly in defiance of the laws of time and motion, yet with an intensity as to cause the blood in the ears to simmer. That is to say, just a tad too loudly on the skins, certainly less appreciated by young Kerry.

Should The Neil Cowley Trio deign to again grace the Norwich stage, at any time in the near future, I'll be there in a flash- perhaps alone this time- eagerly anticipating another musical extravaganza. The music was magical, so as to leave the heart singing for days, but next time I might see if I can't negotiate a seat rather more stage right, or perhaps attempt to smuggle in a pair of old-guy ear plugs.

But, as for what could have been, 'What Will Have Been,' really topped the festival. We saw 'The Circus' on Sunday 17th May and we  instantly knew, then and there, that nothing- absolutely nothing- was going to be able to hold a candle to this. Words alone would not suffice!