Azul, Forest Arts, New Milton

LATIN jazz band Azul brought smooth and funky sounds to Forest Arts.

After starting with a melody on a mbira - an usual instrument from Mozambique - they slowly and sinuously added clarinet, saxophone, a marimbula - a rare South American instrument - keyboards, bass and drums.

The original pieces, composed by bass guitarist Simon McKechnie, are multi-rhythmic, mesmeric and eclectic, with Afro-Cuban ingredients mixed with European flavours to produce an intoxicating feast of melodic jazz, underpinned by excellent musicianship.

Floating on top of some hypnotic arrangements are the vocals of Kathleen Willison, featuring catchy scat singing with Paul Fawcus's clarinet and sax.

And floating in front of the band comes Canadian choreographer Genevieve Grady, interpreting the numbers through expressive and precise modern dance movement.

And after a couple of little girls from the audience joined the band with some fancy dance moves, the show ended with the exotic sound of the mbira.