Etype Jazz are now Etype, so let’s get that clarified straight away and then we can move forward with one bit of confusion dealt with straight away. I first saw Etype jazz way back in the day, well eight years ago to be precise, at a mate’s wedding where their smooth renderings of jazz standards allowed me to cool the ire of a woman previously scorned and actually get her to not only talk to me, but actually spend most of the reception dancing away happily with me. The fact that I was only of the only guys dancing there probably has something to do with it, but I will give full credit to the beautiful sounds playing at the botanic gardens restaurant for working most of the magic. The next time I had the pleasure of listening to the band was at a fundraiser, where they again did a marvellous job to an under appreciative crowd. So where is all this going you ask?

The point I am making is that Etype have always been one of those bands, a bit of a loyal following around town and in jazz circles, but really small fry in the whole scheme of things, no Norah Jones about to happen. This afternoon’s performance came as a bit of a surprise therefore for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was a new lead singer, different from the svelte voiced siren I remembered and though her voice was beautiful, I had a hard time getting past the loss of the previous singer’s vocal stylings.

Secondly was the turnout at the Gov, it was packed and I was quite shocked, album launch or no. And so old, I felt like a positive whippersnapper, if it wasn’t for the multitude of 2-10 year olds who were running around, so the extremes were well represented. However we then discovered that the crowd was probably fifty percent plus family of Pembroke students, who were playing in the horn and string sections accompanying Etype, so a bit of restraint had to be shown in my amazement at their popularity. One thing which has to be added is that if you invite all these musicians along, try to use them a bit more so the don’t just sit there, or stand there as the poor horn section had to, and mix it so you can hear the strings, rather than having them drowned out by the bass and vocals.

Thirdly was my realisation that this album launch heralded some sad facts. Using a producer who worked with Human Nature almost guarantees that the band is going for crass commercial rather than aural quality, so it was no surprise that we had changed to easy listening rather than jazz proper, maybe dropping the ‘jazz’ part was for a reason, not a good one. I also came to the realisation that if the only wind in the band is a saxophonist, one has to be very careful that a cheesy eighties sound doesn’t start to pervade everything original you do, as by hell that was what was coming through thick and fast with every new track that assaulted me. The covers were still good, Chattanooga Choo Choo was joyous, but overall this was a disappointment rather than a bold new direction to be celebrated.

Support was provided by the Wizard And Oz, simple blues and jazz covers with marvellous guitar and piano work and a bit of cheese for good measure. Again, a band who will have a following but won’t quite make it to the big time, though in these guys’ case however, they don’t appear to want to, they are happy doing and playing what they will well, and more power to them for that.