WHAT'S ON: Tonight the Graham Thomas Quartet is at Opus 4 Jazz Club, Travellers Rest, Cockerton (01325) 468177 and on Saturday lunchtime New Orleans Wiggle return to Darlington Arts Centre (01325) 486555.

CD REVIEWS

New Cool Collective/Trippin' (Dox Records DOX016)
I'm sorry to say I hadn't heard this lively Dutch band before although they've been together since 1994 and were at the recent Gateshead Jazz Festival.

Although there are only two horns, David Rockefeller on trumpets and trombone and Benjamin Herman on saxes and flute, they get a remarkably full sound. Despite the name it's a hot band running from swing to Afro-Cuban and Latin. There's a bonus disc featuring Afro-drummer Tony Allen which has more of a township feel. Great stuff.

Benjamin Herman/The Itch (Dox019) The Collective's alto player in a different setting with guitarist Anton Goudsmit, bass player Ernst Glerum and drummer Han Bennink (also at Gateshead). The music is more of a mix of bebop and free improvisation, leavened with a lot of humour. Herman appears on July 30 at the Appleby Jazz Festival with Stan Tracey and Guy Barker, and with Alan Barnes and Peter King.