Lewis & Dav Live Review LEWIS & Dav, an acoustic jazz duo formed by local guitarists Lewis Dickenson and Dav Libson gave an impeccable performance on Wednesday night to a capacity crowd; taking to the Stroud Subscription Rooms understated stage in Mr Twitchett's Café Bar. While the two have only been playing together in this format for a short while, they performed in perfect unison. The combination of Dav's quick-paced, jazz rhythm section and Lewis's often frenzied, shredding lead complemented one another beautifully, entirely captivating the audience. While the duo were playing, barely a whisper could be heard from the crowd; and in quieter sections, one could hear a pin drop.

Their repertoire was equally impressive, an excellent selection of jazz standards and fusion pieces, reworked to conform to their own eclectic style, along with some obscure, yet effortlessly enjoyable gypsy jazz pieces and a few exceptional original pieces. I left with two personal favourites: original track "Ocean’s Tide", a brilliant piece which truly showcases Lewis & Dav's compositional capabilities; and "Isn't She Lovely", a splendid reworking of Stevie Wonder's R&B classic, which encompassed that impossibly catchy vocal line in a lead guitar hook. But the piece which garnered the most uproarious response from the audience was of course that signature encore, a rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee", which ingeniously transitioned to "Elena's Bossa" by Gonzalo Bergara.

It was a fantastic evening, and I'm positive that every other audience member feels the same. I'd certainly recommend catching their next live performance, and with an EP announced and on its way soon, Lewis & Dav are ones to watch.

By Alex Bateman