When Geoff Wilkinson and Mel Simpson raided the Blue Note back catalogue (with the label's blessing, of course), they were pioneering a fresh fusion of jazz and hip hop, and the resulting album, Hand On The Torch, was a brash, confident mix of streetwise raps and smoky basement beats. Four years later, the idea of blending these not so distant genres seems like old hat, and as US 3's second album, Broadway & 52nd, makes its much delayed appearance, it feels like just another acid jazz flashback.
Wilkinson has since split with his former partner in jazz, and he's dug even deeper into the Blue Note archives for US 3's sophomore effort; he's also drafted in two new rappers, KCB and Shabaam Sahdeeq, both from the urban jungle of New York, but he's retained musicians like saxophonist Ed Jones and trombonist Dennis Rollins, augmenting the samples with all impressive band of British studio bods.
At the Olympia on Saturday night, however, the sampler was left at home, and US3 were absolutely live and kicking. KCB and Shabaam rapped some new tunes from Broadway & 52nd, coming on like, The Fun Lovin' Criminals breaking into the Blue Note vaults before taking the audience back in time for We Got It Goin' On. New song Snakes demonstrates Wilkinson's undiminished sense of adventure, and the 5/4 time signature combined with the spiralling clarinet to create an almost pure jazz rap. Sheep is a jazz poem which gets you stroking your goatee in approval, and the slow, languid beats and freeform verse bring you back to the days of Ginsberg and Burroughs. Word.
The pace picks up again with Recognise & Realise and Thinking About Your Body, the band members showing their individual talents for an increasingly lively crowd. The clincher is, of course, Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia), the band's biggest hit, with its instantly recognisable refrain taken from Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island. Yes, this jazz/hip hop crossover might be getting a little dated by now, but luckily your feet never forget.
