4 stars

I didn't know what to expect at this gig but certainly not an introduction from Sylvia Syms, the actress that you remember best from Ice Cold in Alex. She was obviously a fan of Simon James, a guitarist of beguiling dexterity, singer Lynieve Austin and guest percussionist Job Verweijen and after their concert I could understand why.

The Warehouse was full, with an audience that appreciated the evocation of Southern Spain from a guitarist who while looking like most suburban Brits had far greater expertise than the four chords of many pop groups.

His partner Lynieve Austin had composed many of the songs with James and obviously her heroine was the great Ella Fitzgerald, when she gave us a superb A Night in Toledo.

We started with flamenco, the music from Andalucia, and then on to an original composition, Wedding Singer, based on gypsy dances at wedding festivals.

Lynieve then sang in Spanish, the beautiful Una Pena Quita Pena, which translated means 'a sorrow may cure a sorrow' - sounds much better in Spanish.

We had a Samba, a Rumba and I liked the composition The River, a sort of journey of our lives, first softly and then violently like a mighty flood.

There is a tendency to think of percussion as crash, bang, wallop, but the equipment of Verweijen gave lie to this, producing rhythms often gentle but certainly hypnotic - the rustle of trees, bird cries, the lap of water, or was it simply my imagination.

We had improvisations from Since You Went Away, The Autumn Leaves and I loved the catchy 1,2,3,4,5 chorus. The well-deserved encore at the end was Nature Boy.

My conclusion was this is a very talented group that love to make music.

Peter Steptoe