When Steve Arguelles, an unorthodox and intelligent British jazz drummer and founder member of the great Loose Tubes big band, moved to Paris almost a decade ago, he welcomed the alternative Parisian scene. In 1997 he told the Guardian: "I did a gig in Paris with a DJ. He was playing his decks and kit as I would an instrument. He said, 'What's that music you're playing?' I said, 'Improvised music.' He said, 'Isn't everything?'"

Arguelles has put together a tour to celebrate that outlook, with five ensembles featuring everything from free-jazz to Afro-beat, a kind of avant-funk Charles Aznavour to dancefloor electronics. Sensational Guinean vocalist Hadja Kouyate, kora player Ali Bouro Santo and sampler Marc Chalosse provided the highlights, lifting the show to some of its most ecstatic moments. Kouyate's spine-tingling clarity and microtonal flexibility swept across a 21st-century soundscape with some tempestously exuberant traditional songs. The singer's whirling, dancing white robes made a compelling visual contrast to Chalosse, who crouched studiously over a forest of boxes and cables.

For jazzers, spontaneous improvisation beyond licks-repetition over thumping bass beats was not so plentiful. But the quartet, led by pianist Benoit Delbecq and featuring Arguelles, his saxophonist brother Julian and the capriciously skilful double-bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel, did deliver a slippery, melodically lateral free-jazz set after a texturally rich exchange between Santo and Chalosse. The gifted Julian Arguelles uncharacteristically operated in a fascinatingly sinewy Ornette Coleman mode, reminiscent of UK altoist Trevor Watts.

Classic French-cabaret chanson surfaced with the more pop-oriented Recyclers (also centred on Steve Arguelles and Delbecq), featuring the languidly whimsical singer Philippe Katerine. But it was Kouyate's show. Giving her even a brief appearance earlier would perhaps have helped the dynamics of a long and seamless performance.

· At Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, tonight. Box office: 0115 846 7777. Then touring.