Italian saxophonist Renato D'Aiello oozes class. When he plays quietly the effect is like hearing an old friend kindly giving you some much-needed advice. And when he lets rip, he has you rocking in your chair.

D'Aiello's tastefully idiosyncratic interpretation of the swing and bop repertoire has earned him many admirers on the UK provincial circuit, and this time he has returned with a fine quartet, including drummer Dave Wickins and Dexter Gordon's former pianist Kurk Lightsey.

They romped and charmed their way through a set of D'Aiello originals, along with a couple of obscure old tunes. It became immediately apparent that Wickins was no ordinary time-keeper. Using an assortment of wood blocks, bells and shakers he maintained a continuum of hard-swinging sounds and textures that ranged from the ethnic and ethereal to the positively volcanic. He played in tight unison with Lightsey, who managed to combine the bluesy exuberance of a barrel-house pianist with the elegance of a Chopin recitalist. His outlandish style seemed almost Cuban at times, and he muttered and sang to himself while packing his solos with sprawling octaves and jangling syncopations.

D'Aiello's saxophone ached with lovelorn emotion on his own composition One Night's Dream. Technical flourishes abounded, including a fast trilling effect sustained over an unfeasible number of bars. Yet such pyrotechnics were never allowed to get in the way of actual emotion.

On Be Nice ("dedicated to myself"), D'Aiello turned in his most vividly defined phrases, creating exuberant whirls of melody that seemed to hang in the air. With Lightsey becoming ever more rumbustious, and D'Aiello's warm, personable sound proving endlessly beguiling, they were guaranteed some foot-stomping applause.