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News of their brand of soul, funk jazz and reggae mix disseminated around the globe. Over the last couple of years the ever changing live collective have gathered a formidable following that has seen live dates around Europe, including upcoming November and December dates.

Their easy going gigs, are a jam of reggae and dub, with hefty doses of improv and free jazz from the horn section - each a graduate of the Wellington Jazz School. Live their funky jams are interspersed with hip-hop, soul and techno depending on who is gracing the stage. No two live shows, they claim, are alike.

Their latest release, Live at the Matterhorn, is a show recorded at the ‘den of iniquity’ of Wellington’s Matterhorn club. Divided into four jams averaging 18 minutes a piece, Fat Freddy’s scope is played out at a chilled pace. If anything, too chilled. The bass lollops along enjoying the crack of the snare and clean wah wah guitar throughout. Flourishes of words, from the truly wonderful vocalist Joe Dukie AKA Dallas Tamaira, complement forays into improv by the horn section. The lyrics are concerned. They tend to fall between personal, often starkly so, and environmental.

Occasionally the dub beats strengthen the vibe with a little most interest, but on record the overall sound seems lacklustre. At the beginning of the third number, ‘No Parking’, you can hear Dallas Tamaira asking the audience to come closer — a sure sign that they may not have been totally enraptured by the previous minutes, and it still shows no sign of moving up a scale. Only on the final 12 minutes of ‘Bounce’ do things liven up a little. There are occasional whoops from the audience enlivened a thrilling beat that promises a crescendo. Yet more horn solos and still no sign of a tempo change, and disappointingly the track actually fades out. No cheers, no audience applause, just a jaunty 30 seconds tacked on at the end, with a few hollers.

Fat Freddy’s Drop, we know can thrill a live audience and no doubt will be doing at London’s Roundhouse on December 4, and can also do it on record, look at the reception they received from Based On A True Story, but on Live at the Matterhorn, their Island vibe fails to shine through.