For some - many even - Jazz may be a dirty word, forever associated with inaccessible, avant-garde, rambling or wannabe beatniks. So what the genre needs is someone to change that perception, without compromising or attempting to fuse with the mainstream (and we don't mean that song by The Feeling with the terrible sax solo). London four-piece, Portico Quartet, recently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, are stepping up to the plate.

Last night the Quartet played in the Rough Trade shop, just off Brick Lane. Their sound is a blend of soprano/tenor saxophone, double bass, drums and the 'Hang' - a convex Caribbean-like steel drum that give the band their distinctive sound (it looks a bit like a dustbin lid). Despite the sunshine outside, the haunting intro of first song 'Door Patrol' sucked a crowd to the back of the store

A five-star performance of album-opener 'News From Verona' followed, along with the lulling, dreamlike, 'The Full Catastrophe'. However, the show-stealer was 'Steps in the Wrong Direction', an uplifting, driving-with-hope-on-the-horizon song with the most amazing, incessantly funky bass solo. The crowd erupted into applause for bassist Milo Fitzpatrick's shining moment.

They played on with an as-yet untitled track, with a melody that would have the world's greatest vocalists clambering to sing over it, and the Philip Pullman-influenced 'Cittagazze', the only track with (very African-sounding) vocals, wherein Duncan Bellamy gets to properly show off his Hang skills. The beautiful album-title track 'Knee Deep in the North Sea' was the suitably grand finale to a truly stand-out gig.

Try to imagine the coolest film never made. We mean really cool. Steve McQueen and Samuel L, on 'Easy Rider' choppers, in a French film-noir spy film, infiltrating a Yakuza Samurai cult. Portico Quartet would provide the soundtrack. Whichever side of the jazz fence you sit on, they deserve your attention.

Find out more at www.myspace.com/porticoquartet