While there are many examples of the saxophone quartet in jazz history, it's relatively rare on the contemporary British scene. Watching the Brass Jaw Saxophone Quartet - formed from the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - it isn't difficult to see why. Without a rhythm section the task of making everything swing is shared by everyone, and solos must be extremely focused. The Brass Jaw boys generally do a brilliant job, packing their performance with an impressive amount of detail while achieving an extremely classy sound.

They began by trooping through the audience, spinning delicate contrapuntal melodies. Taking it in turns to produce drone notes and fluttering harmonies, they reached the stage and launched into a hard swinging number anchored by Allon Beauvoisin's honking baritone. The group quickly set out their individual wares, Brian Molley's tenor providing bluesy grit, Martin Kershaw's alto quirky humour. Also on alto, Paul Towndrow was the biggest show-off, launching immediately into Wayne Shorter territory with a mercurial torrent of notes.

Drenched in sweat after only one tune, Beauvoisin introduced a piece by one of the group's chief influences, the New York 29th-Street Saxophone Quartet. The Nasty is apparently a Mount Everest for any sax ensemble, full of Mingus-like pandemonium. There were head-frying passages of contrary motion and car-horn parps arranged into barrages of funky riffs. The momentum was sustained through a Charlie Parker-ish reading of Walking On the Moon, and a shrieking Beauvoisin original dedicated to the horrors of painkiller withdrawal.

Altogether, an accomplished and ambitious ensemble who aren't afraid to enjoy themselves.