IT was a night of pure musical class as Peter Canter and his jazz quartet wowed onlookers for Jazz Night at the CICCIC, Taunton.

Peter and the group made their way on stage and kicked off the night with ‘Blues for Bill’ a real upbeat and quirky song where his saxophone and Jim Rintoul’s double bass sounded like they were competing with one another to hit the quickest tempo.

Keyboard player Jim Blomfield was on fantastic form throughout and made his presence felt; twinkling from key to key with ease.

Another song that stood out for me was ‘Tinker Tailor’ which carried a Latin feel. Drummer Gary Evans was very impressive at this point, with some uber-cool drumming. After the performance, Peter spoke to the County Gazette about the venue and the local music vibe.

He said: “The acoustics of the room were fantastic and it’s brilliant to have a venue like this that’s open for us to be able to play original contemporary music.


“I’ve been in the South West for about 12 to 13 years now and, to my mind, Taunton has always been a bit of a ‘jazz desert’ so this (CICCIC) is fantastic for us and the people are really friendly and welcoming.


“Jim Rintoul and Jim Blomfield had never met before and this was their first gig together. Jazz is a bit like that, where people pick up bands and substitute players all the time.”


The next CICCIC Jazz Night ‘Gypsy Jazz’ will take place on May 22 from 7.30pm.