The band’s full name is the New York Standards Quartet, and its speciality is making old tunes new – songs of Broadway and Hollywood, venerable pop ditties, old jazz warhorses – the more familiar the better. Of course, that’s what jazz musicians do anyway, but NYSQ turn it into a game of musical hide-and-seek. Sometimes the original is carefully concealed, with hints dropped as the piece progresses, or it may be broken up into tantalising little scraps. The title may help – Hidden Fondness, for instance, turns out to be a version of Secret Love, although not as Doris Day would have known it. Or you can ignore the puzzle aspect and simply enjoy the phenomenally bright and resourceful playing.
