Liverpool jazz quintet the Weave have explicit interest in the punchy hard-bop style and sidelong ones in prog-rock, Zappa and the Canterbury avant-pop scene of the 1970s. After years on the circuit, it is not surprising they’ve become affectionately regarded as the elder statesmen of a now-burgeoning Liverpool scene. Leader Martin Smith’s The Pogo joins an almost grand, early jazz ensemble sound to a snappy hook, freely swapping solos with fellow trumpeter Anthony Peers. Para Parrot, meanwhile, is a perkily chugging medium swinger by bassist Hugo Harrison, and features a glittery, fitfully stomping piano solo from Rob Stringer. Our Fathers is a warm-toned contrapuntal brass elegy to forebears, and Not on Your Nelly is a jazzy Irish jig. The title track is a wacky march with solemnly funky digressions and a kind of Chekhovian recitation in judiciously posh English from Peers, and Princess Salami Socks blends a slow horn dance and a sumptuous cello duet. It is all thoroughly eccentric – and eccentrically engaging.
