The young and outspoken trio Badbadnotgood who have garnered a huge following over the last six months in their first UK performance showed us why on Friday. Brought over to the UK by Gilles Peterson for his Worldwide awards, Badbadnotgood found themselves in front of a throbbing packed house at Shoreditch venue XOYO. The crowd erupted upon hearing the first few bars of the first song Waka Flocka Flame’s ‘Hard in da Paint’. Following on from this their set included covers of tunes by A Tribe Called Quest and last year’s fast rising rapper Tyler the Creator.

Featuring keys player Matt Tavares, drummer Alex Sowinski and Chester Hansen on bass the trio spent the entire set locked in eye contact with each other, only facing the audience to announce songs. Instead of alienating themselves from the crowd this approach allowed them to develop a tight grove with which to animate them.

Not yet graduated from their course at Canada’s Humber college the band have done what so many others have tried and failed at: they’ve brought jazz improvisation to a new and young audience. The reasons for their success are simple: they play songs that today’s youth know, their music is for the dance floor rather than seated venues and finally and perhaps most importantly they give away all their music for free.

– Chris Hyde-Harrison

To download their material, or to stream tracks, go to www.badbadnotgood.com