Finding Ways at the Cockpit: Richard Williams finds a warm, spontaneous closing night

Among the write-ups of London's autumn jazz calendar, few have read as warmly as the one The Blue Moment published after Finding Ways played the Cockpit Theatre. The show, part of Jazz in the Round, was the closing night of the EFG London Jazz Festival in 2025, and it gave the band the chance to end a busy festival on a more relaxed note. Richard Williams, reviewing for the site, described the evening as a happier way to finish the festival, and his piece remains one of the most glowing reviews the act's live show has received.

What Williams responded to first was the feeling of the playing. He described the band's interplay as spontaneous and engaged, with the sense that the musicians were listening closely to one another rather than working through prepared routes. He also noted that the players appeared to be enjoying themselves on stage, and that this ease seemed to carry through to the room. In a close venue such as the Cockpit, that kind of visible pleasure can change the atmosphere entirely.

The most specific praise was reserved for "Community". Williams picked out a passage for three guitars that he found unexpectedly soft and delicate, a moment that surprised him in a set otherwise associated with momentum. Rather than treating the quiet section as a pause, he presented it as one of the standout moments of the night, a reminder that the group could hold back as readily as it could push forward.

The review did not present the band as only gentle. Louder, more intense moments were included in his account as part of the performance's energy, and he framed them as a natural counterweight to the quieter writing rather than a departure from it. That balance of dynamics is what gives the verdict its weight. The warmth he described was not a matter of low-key playing, but of contrast handled with confidence.

Read now, the piece says something useful about how Finding Ways work in front of an audience. A recording can document arrangements, but a live room exposes the give and take between players, and this review suggests the group thrives on that exchange. For readers who know the act mainly from records, Williams's account offers a clear picture of a band that sounded at ease with itself and generous towards its listeners, which is why it stands out as a notably positive notice of the group's live work.