How many ‘William’s have I known? In truth, not many. In fact, I don’t remember actually meeting anyone calling themselves William. History gives us William the Conqueror, literature proffers William Shakespeare, and the first in line for the throne here in the UK is our Prince William. But time and circumstance have always separated them from me. Even those listed as ‘William’ in organisations I belonged to were known as ‘Bill’ or ‘Billy’ or some such.

But there is a tenuous connection between Shakespeare and a contemporary jazz collective that I was introduced to the other day: the famous playwright is sometimes known as the Swan of Avon, and the much less well-known jazz band is called SwanNek. Although, judging by the image they provide for their recent EP, At What Cost?, they had someone other than The Bard in mind when they wrote it.

SwanNek is a boundary-pushing contemporary jazz collective from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who use music to celebrate the places and people they hold dear.

The band’s artist page on Spotify.

I don’t think I would describe SwanNek as ‘boundary-pushing’, but neither are they mainstream. All the tunes on the At What Cost? EP lie where lounge jazz flirts with a chamber orchestra. A little unusual, perhaps, but very nicely done and just the thing for a lazy winter’s evening.