Los Diablos Ritmicos, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 25/10/2026

Ross Hicks – piano, vocals, Nick Kacal – double bass, Alex Goodyear – drums, vocals

Despite the recent stormy weather a hearteningly large and supportive crowd made their way to the Melville Centre for this performance by Los Diablos Ritmicos, an ensemble featuring three of Black Mountain Jazz’s favourite sons, pianist Ross Hicks, bassist Nick Kacal and drummer Alex Goodyear.

All of the musicians have been regular visitors to BMJ, both individually and collectively, and in January 2025 the three appeared at the Melville under the pianist’s leadership as the Ross Hicks Trio. That event marked the official launch of Hicks’ debut album “Three Elms”, which also featured the rhythm team of Kacal and Goodyear. Released in 2024 “Three Elms” was a hugely accomplished debut featuring five of Hicks’ original compositions, one of which was to be heard this evening. My very favourable review of the “Three Elms” album can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/ross-hicks-three-elms

The January 2025 event was a double bill with drummer Patrick Barrett-Donlon’s Leading From The Back quartet and in my absence, due to flooding on the Hereford to Abergavenny road, the show was reviewed by a ‘committee’ of audience members under the leadership of Debs Hancock. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/double-bill-sunday-at-black-mountain-jazz-abergavenny-featuring-the-ross-hicks-trio-three-elms-album-launch-and-the-patrick-barrett-donlon-quartets-leading-from-the-back

Welsh born Hicks is a recent graduate from the  Jazz Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff and he remains based in the Welsh capital. He is an adaptable and versatile musician capable of playing across a variety of jazz and other musical genres and he is beginning to establish a name for himself on the jazz scenes in both South Wales and the South West of England.

I know Hicks’ playing best from his numerous visits to BMJ where he has demonstrated his versatility by appearing in a broad range of musical contexts. He has doubled up on piano and electric keyboards with the young Cardiff based jazz / funk /soul octet Freshly Cut Grass, led by guitarist / vocalist /composer Owain Hughes and with the similarly inclined South Walian jazz-funk sextet Bunker, led by saxophonist Joe Northwood. 

As an acoustic pianist Hicks has proved himself to be an excellent and in demand accompanist for jazz vocalists such as Debs Hancock, Emma Davidson and Kai Hoffman.

In August 2023 Hicks gave a brilliant account of himself as a member of the South Wales based ‘house trio’ that accompanied the Tubby Hayes inspired saxophonist Simon Spillett at Black Mountain Jazz. Spillett was fulsome in his encouragement and praise of an exceptional trio that also included Goodyear and bassist Ashley John Long.  My review of this remarkable quartet performance can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/simon-spillett-quartet-the-music-of-tubby-hayes-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-abergavenny-23-08-2023

The Hicks / Kacal / Goodyear trio has also accompanied Spillett’s fellow saxophonist Alan Barnes.

March 2024 saw Hicks venturing outside his ‘comfort zone’ as part of a jazz trio that also featured trumpeter Ben Thomas and drummer Ian Williams as they provided improvised musical responses to the words of poets Ric Hool, Lyndon Davies and Graham Hartill as part of a “Poetry & Jazz Improvisation” event. My  account of this unusual but thought provoking performance can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/poetry-jazz-improvisation-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-abergavenny-24-03-2024

Hicks has also twice been a guest of the Black Mountain Jazz house trio, the BMJ Collective, featuring Kacal on bass,  Jack McDougal (Jack Mac) on reeds and occasional vocals and drummer Ryan Thrupp. Hicks was one of the first guests in the now well established ‘BMJ Collective With..’ series and his visit in July 2023 featured some of the compositions that would subsequently appear on “Three Elms”. The performance also included a well chosen selection of jazz standards and jazz adaptations of pop tunes. Review here;

As recently as September 2026 Hicks guested with the Collective again along with saxophonist Dan Newberry as part of an event forming part of the annual Wall2Wall Jazz Festival that was billed as “The Welsh New Wave”. This event is reviewed as part of my Festival coverage here;

In their incarnation as the Ross Hicks Trio the group would often include Latin jazz tunes and around six months ago the trio decided to investigate this genre of jazz further under the collective name Los Diablos Ritmicos, which I guess translates as The Rhythm Devils. In their new guise they draw inspiration from the music of Havana and particularly that of the famous Buena Vista Social Club. Another significant source of inspiration is the contemporary Havana based pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa.

Tonight’s set included material from both these sources but also from wider Latin America and beyond, including one Hicks original.

The trio commenced with “Mandinga”, a song written by the Buena Vista Social Club pianist Rubén González (1919 – 2003). I use the word song advisedly for this piece featured the singing of both Hicks and Goodyear, both delivering the Spanish language lyrics with considerable aplomb. Until tonight I had no idea that either was also a vocalist. Set up on stage to face each other the musical relationship between Hicks and Goodyear was vital to the success of tonight’s performance.
This piece also featured the instrumental soloing of Hicks at the piano and Kacal on double bass.

Also written by González  “Melodia Del Rio” was a gentler affair introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano and later featuring Goodyear’s trademark hand drumming.  This was an all instrumental piece that also featured the melodious soloing of Hicks at the piano and Kacal on double bass.

The trio picked up the pace again with a Latin style arrangement of “Only Trust Your Heart” which saw Goodyear picking up his sticks once more. This piece represented something of a tour de force for the rhythm section with Kacal’s bass solo followed by a full on drum solo from Goodyear, each of his limbs playing a different rhythm in a remarkable percussive display that combined colour,  energy and excitement with supreme co-ordination.

From the “Three Elms” album we enjoyed Hicks’ own Latin style composition “Cuarantena”, a title derived from the Portuguese word for quarantine and presumably written during the lockdown period. The piece was ushered in by Goodyear at the drums, his insistent bass drum / snare drum rhythm embellished by snippets of piano melody and the sounds of Kacal’s bowed bass. As the music began to gather in intensity a more obviously ‘Latin’ groove was established as Kacal switched to the pizzicato technique. Hicks delivered a dazzling piano solo underpinned by increasingly frantic rhythms with Goodyear’s use of cow bell emphasising the ‘Latin-ness’ of the music. Finally the drummer was let loose for another dynamic feature of his own. This was a very convincing piece of original writing in the Latin style.

The energy levels were maintained on “Sofrito”, a song by the Cuban percussionist and bandleader Mongo Santamaria (1917 – 2003), who famously had a Latin-ised hit with the Herbie Hancock composition “Watermelon Man”. Again things began quietly and atmospherically with the sounds of bowed bass and cymbal shimmers, but soon the trio were into a gentle Afro-Cuban groove that gradually began to gather momentum and intensity, with Hicks’ piano solo accompanied by Goodyear’s colourful drumming and Kacal’s anchoring bass. This was the second piece to feature the singing of Hicks and Goodyear, while Kacal was to feature as an instrumental soloist.

The first set concluded with “Hialeah”, a composition by the previously mentioned Harold López-Nussa (born 1983). Introduced by the combination of piano and drums, with Kacal’s bass subsequently added, this was another piece that incorporated dynamic features from both Goodyear and Hicks.

This largely high energy first set was very well received the audience who appreciated the skill of the trio’s playing and their collective command of those devilish Afro-Cuban rhythms. As a listener used to jazz swing it always takes me a bit of time to acclimatise to Latin music, but I was very much enjoying this.

Set two retained the same high standards and the same infectious energy as the first. “Campina”, a song from the repertoire of the Afro Cuban Jazz Project, was introduced by Hicks at the piano, swiftly joined by bass and drums. This was a piece that featured Hicks as the sole vocalist and also as a piano soloist, followed by Kacal on double bass.

Next came Hick’s rhumba style arrangement of “The World We Knew”, a song written by Bert Kaempfert and recorded by Frank Sinatra. This was ushered in by a passage of unaccompanied piano and featured the sounds of Goodyear’s hand drumming. Effectively this set’s ballad the piece also included lyrical solos from Hicks at the piano and Kacal on double bass.

The hand drumming continued on Goodyear’s extended solo drum introduction to “Mambo Influenciado”, a Latin standard written by Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés (born 1941). As Goodyear finally picked up his sticks Hicks and Kacal joined him and the music really began to gather momentum through the solos of Hicks and Kacal before Goodyear rounded things off with a final drum feature, circumnavigating what was a pretty substantial kit in typically dynamic and colourful fashion.

Hicks announced a second Lopez Nussa tune, “Una Tarde Cualquiera En Paris”, translating as a “A Quiet Night in Paris”. Introduced by Hicks at the piano and again featuring the sound of hand drumming the night wasn’t quite so quiet once Goodyear had switched to sticks to enter into a series of vigorous drum / piano exchanges with Hicks. It all culminated with Goodyear taking another dynamic tour of the drum kit.

“Black Orpheus”, written by Luiz Bonfa, took us from Cuba to Brazil for a piece that has become a jazz standard and which is one of Hicks’ favourite tunes. Hicks introduced the piece solo at the piano, joined first by Kacal’s bowed bass and then by Goodyear’s cymbal embellishments. The emergence of the main melodic theme then saw Goodyear sketching melodic rhythms on hand drums. Hicks’ subsequent piano solo was followed by a melodic double bass excursion from Kacal, this leading into a bass and drum dialogue before Hicks took us back to the main theme.

There was another change of musical location with the inclusion of “O Sen Sen Sen”, a song by the Cameroonian bassist, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Richard Bona (born 1967). Featuring instrumental solos from Hicks and Bona this song also featured vocals and saw Hicks encouraging the audience to sing along with the chorus.

The trio had completely captured the hearts of the audience by now. This had been scheduled to be the last number but such was the warmth and enthusiasm of the audience reaction that they remained on stage to play a deserved encore.

This proved to be “El Cuarto de Tula” from the Buena Vista Social Club album, featuring the joint vocalising of Hicks and Goodyear and the feverish piano soloing of the leader, with Kacal and Goodyear adding considerable rhythmic heft. The irrepressible Goodyear was also featured at the kit.

Tonight’s show represented the final date in a short run of gigs that had seen the trio play at Penarth Jazz Festival, Palladino’s in Cardiff and Coaltrain’s in Barry during the course of the previous week. As a result this was a trio at the top of its game, urged on by a knowledgeable audience. These ‘favourite sons’ had delivered the goods in style and the Los Diablos Ritmicos project looks set to run and run. The band had obviously had enormous fun playing this music and the audience had taken a similar delight in listening to it.

Although the trio impressed with their command of Latin idioms they also put their own jazz stamp on the music and the standard of the playing was exceptional throughout. Another great night at BMJ.

My thanks to Alex and Ross for clarifying the set list with me after the show. Greatly appreciated guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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