Neil Angilley Trio, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 24/09/2026

Neil Angilley – piano, vocals, Davide Mantovani – electric bass, vocals, Davide Giovannini – drums, vocals

MSH’s fourth gig in September drew the largest crowd thus far for the 2026/27 series of events. A pleasingly substantial number of listeners enjoyed this vivacious, high energy performance from pianist and composer Neil Angilley and his trio as they explored a mix of jazz, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music.

I’ve almost given up trying to anticipate audience numbers at jazz gigs and after disappointing attendances at the first three gigs of the current MSH season it was good to see so many people last night. The crowd was certainly bigger than I expected and promoter Dave Fuller announced himself delighted with the turn out. The audience really got behind the band in a manner that was a delight to see.

It may have helped that all three musicians have been previous visitors to the Marr’s Bar. Angilley is part part of drummer Davide Giovannini’s Minas Project which had played for MSH in January 2026, an event that I was unable to attend as it was the night of the infamous Storm Goretti. I also missed him when he visited with drummer Steve Taylor’s Fusion Phew! Ensemble in May 2024. Research shows that I was covering saxophonist Ben Carter’s quartet in Ross-on-Wye on the same night.

In addition to visiting with his own band drummer Giovannini had also played as a member of the septet TRYPL at a particularly well attended MSH event in January 2025.

Meanwhile Mantovani visited as a member of the Tristan Banks Quartet in April 2023. That group is scheduled to return on October 22nd with Mantovani still on board, but as a member of a slightly different line-up. In addition to his work with Banks the bassist has also performed as a sideman with saxophonist Paul Booth, trumpeter Loz Speyer, vocalist Katriona Taylor and pianists Zoe Rahman and Alex Wilson among many others. In 2022 he released the solo album “Choices”, which is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/choices

Born in Cornwall but now based in London pianist and composer Neil Angilley studied classical piano at the Royal Academy of Music before gravitating towards jazz, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. A prolific composer he has released two solo piano albums plus a further five with his longing running trio featuring Mantovani and Giovannini, these exploring a wide range of jazz and other music styles.  His latest recording is the recently released “Back To Yesteryear”, a jazz funk project centred on Angilley’s love of drumming that sees him playing both keys and drums alongside a set of different collaborators, most notably guitarist Al Cherry and bassist Nico Gomez.

He’s a musician whose name I’ve been aware of some time but who has always seemed to fly just below my personal music radar – until now.

Something that sets the Angilley group apart from the many other piano trios on the jazz circuit is their abilities as vocalists. All three members of the band sing and Giovannini is a particularly strong vocalist. This was apparent right from the start with a high energy rendition of “Chango Moti Awa”, effectively the title track of the trio’s 2012 album “Chango”. Named for the Yoruba god of (variously) thunder, festivities and drums this Afro-Cuban flavoured piece featured the rousing vocal chants of all three band members, with Giovannini’s impassioned vocals taking the lead. This was vibrant, colourful, intensely rhythmic music, with Angilley unleashing a feverish solo on his Korg electric keyboard on an acoustic piano setting. Henceforth I will refer to the instrument as a ‘piano’. In addition to his powerful vocal contribution Giovannini also added a similarly forceful drum feature.

From 2021’s trio album “Yambou” the song “Love Shines Bright” cooled things down a tad, another Afro-Cuban style tune but with an English language lyric sung by Giovannini. With words extolling the virtues of love, friendship and freedom this was another upbeat offering that included another dazzling piano solo from the leader.

Featuring on the trio’s concert recording “Live at the 606 Club” (recorded in 2019, released in 2022) the song “Pequenita” was originally written for the baby of a friend of the band members. Angilley informed us the child in question is now a beautiful thirty four year old woman, but the song itself is timeless. The tune was introduced by an extended passage of unaccompanied piano. Giovannini’s soaring wordless vocal melodies subsequently took over and I was reminded of the Brazilian influenced music of Pat Metheny. The piece was also notable for an extended electric bass feature from Mantovani that was sometimes reminiscent of the guitar like sound of the great Steve Swallow.

The first non-original of the set was “Brazilian Beat”, written by the American jazz guitarist Barney Kessel (1923 – 2004), a musician who once played with Charlie Parker. This was a fascinating blending of bebop with the music of Brazil and featured expansive solos from both Angilley and Mantovani. Originally recorded by the trio for the “Chango” album this represented its first live outing for ten years.

Kessel’s tune was also the first fully instrumental tune of the night and it was immediately followed by another. The trio’s interpretation of “You Don’t Know What Love Is” was presaged by another extended solo piano intro before evolving into a genuine jazz ballad with Giovannini deploying brushes almost throughout. Angilley’s blues inflected lyricism at the piano was complemented by Mantovani’s agile, but lyrical, soloing on electric bass.

An exciting first set concluded with an energetic reading of the Sergio Mendes song “The Frog”, a classic of 60s Brazilian pop. This featured the return of the trio’s much vaunted three part vocal harmonies and included a stunning piano solo from Angilley, pounding the keyboard, fingers a blur and urged on by Giovannini’s dynamic drumming. Mantovani’s electric bass solo made use of slap bass techniques and Giovannini rounded things off with a typically hard hitting drum feature.

Set two kicked off with the title track of the trio’s 2007 debut album “Havana Club”, the album that also included the original instrumental recording of “Pequenita”. “Havana Club” itself was a relentless outpouring of Afro-Cuban flavoured energy with Angilley’s high percussive piano soloing augmented by a further drum feature from Giovannini.

Angilley informed us that his first exposure to Latin music had come during his teenage years in Cornwall when he first heard the 1970 Santana album “Abraxas”. The Santana album included a version of the song “Black Magic Woman”, written by the then Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green. The Angilley Trio recorded their own interpretation of the song for “Chango” and very much put their own stamp on it. Tonight a reflective introduction featuring the liquidly lyrical sounds of Mantovani’s electric bass was joined eventually by Angilley’s piano and Giovannini’s mallet rumbles. A Cuban flavoured odd meter groove subsequently emerged with Angilley taking over as the featured soloist.

Based around the Uruguayan candombe rhythm the tune “Figeria” was once part of the repertoire of Negrocan, a Brazilian band that both Angilley and Giovannini used to play in. With a title referring to a flamenco dancer this vibrantly rhythmic item was something of a set piece and featured Angilley at the piano, Giovannini on body percussion and Mantovani on handclaps (or palmas). It was a particularly spectacular from Giovannini, who inevitably became the focus of attention.

The trio’s “Yambou” album features an inventive Latin-esque arrangement of the classic Wayne Shorter composition “Footprints” and the recorded version features an extensive contribution from guest percussionist Snowboy. Giovannini played the Snowboy role here, combining with Mantovani to introduce the piece, before handing over to Angilley for what was perhaps the pianist’s most brilliant solo of the night, urged on by Giovannini’s crisp and propulsive drumming. Angilley’s combination of classically honed technique and Latin inspired energy is an unstoppable combination, but it would have been nice to see him playing a ‘proper’ acoustic piano rather than its electric counterpart. Once again Giovannini concluded a remarkable performance of this much played modern day jazz standard with a drum feature. The trio certainly made their own mark on the piece.

The trio retuned to the “Havana Club” album as they concluded with the tune “Fruta Madura”, translating as “Ripe Fruit”. Angilley’s extended solo piano intro ranged from the reflective to the flamboyant and offered yet another demonstration of his formidable technique. An infectious cha cha rhythm then emerged that provided the basis for a more conventional piano solo from the leader, this followed by a bass feature from Mantovani that incorporated string bending techniques. The performance also featured the singing of Giovannini, whose rendition of the Spanish language lyrics was accompanied by the backing vocals and handclaps of his colleagues. A diversion into the Yoruba language then transported the music right back to its African origins.

The richly deserved encore also harked back to the “Havana Club” album and “Marcha De Los Ratones”, a piece translating as “March of the Mice”. Inspired by Angilley’s love of cartoons (and particularly Tom & Jerry) this was a suitably playful and energetic piece featuring a series of lively and often humorous instrumental exchanges between the band members and with the irrepressible Giovannini again rounding things off with a dynamic drum feature.

This was an exceptional performance from the trio, combining superb instrumental technique with a joyous energy and an impressive command of a variety of musical idioms. The use of vocals helped to transform the conventional piano trio sound, with all three band members, and particularly Giovannini, also impressing as singers. The trio’s love of Cuban and Brazilian music shone through, making them the ideal choice as the second event in MSH’s “A Brazilian Love Affair” series, a series that is certainly delivering on its promise of bringing exceptional live music to Worcester.

Having missed out on seeing Angilley play live for so long I will now be seeing him twice in three weeks when he appears as a guest with the BMJ Collective, the house band of Black Mountain Jazz, at the Melville Theatre in Abergavenny on Sunday 11th October 2026. I’m now really looking forward to that, especially as he’s have an upright acoustic piano to work with.

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