BLINQ: Brendan Reilly, Liane Carroll, Natalie Williams, Ian Shaw. (out of shot: Gwilym Simcock)

The debut of BLINQ at Ronnie Scott’s last August was one of my gigs of the year.

So, for the sheer pleasure of hearing them again, I’ve just driven down the A3 to Petersfield and heard their second outing.

No regrets. Only joy. For sheer exuberance, entertainment, collective madness, impromptu harmonizing…. this group (Natalie Williams, Liane Carroll, Brendan Reilly, Ian Shaw, Gwilym Simcock) may have its equals, but it certainly won’t be beaten. They’re fabulous. And already, from gig 1 to gig 2 the repertoire has expanded.

And if entertainment to keep the listener attentive through every moment of every tune is not enough, then those who love a piano, and their purely musical treats will have been knocked out too: to give just one example of many, the smoky magic which Simcock was conjuring up in a Scriabinesque, impressionistic, quiet preamble to Noel Coward’s Mad About The Boy was something very special indeed.

Bedales School has a fine purpose built theatre with very good sound. Their next promotion is on 4th May – Abram Wilson’s Septet featuring Peter King, Jean Toussaint and Winston Rollins.