Here's a new Liverpool-based jazz ensemble with a revitalised old sound. On their second album Knowledge Porridge, The Weave – the name has a Merseybeat ring to it – is a light-hearted mix of influences that includes a back-to-basics jazz of a contemporary folk or New Orleans kind (the Merseysippi jazz band are a key influence) that ruled the Liverpool scene before the arrival of four mop tops, shot through with the kind of chirpy English pop melodies and infectious grooves that have marked the Liverpool pop scene, both past and present. The Weave are experienced musicians, the leader Martin Smith a member of the band Wizards of Twiddly a second wave prog band in the 1990s who became the touring backing band for the cult ex-Soft Machine singer-songwriter Kevin Ayres for a year. The only song is ‘Evolve And Expand’ and it has vocals by Luciana Mercer who sings in a regional accent emphasizing the homegrown connection and has a 1980's bossa-influenced indie band feel. The Celtic folk theme of ‘Not On Your Nelly’ points to the Irish connection on Merseyside and is also Smith's nod to the Scottish jazz trumpeter Neil Yates.