The late Ronnie Scott wasn't the world's most natural PR, but he once roused himself to an unprecedented ring-round of journalists to drum up support for a sensational newcomer: South African multi-instrumentalist Bheki Mseleku. Playing the piano with a sax on his lap - sometimes playing both simultaneously, in wistfully hymnal duets with himself - Mseleku sounded like a jazz sensation in the making. But two decades of changes in the player and in his homeland put everything on hold. This week Mseleku reappeared at the Jazz Cafe, leading an impromptu local band on a series of effervescent originals. Influenced by McCoy Tyner, Coltrane and Chick Corea more than by the South African townships approach, Mseleku combines heartfelt African directness with a global-jazz sweep.

The gig began simply, with Mseleku at the piano and his 15-year-old niece Demi Mseleku at the microphone, softly easing through Bheki's tender song for Abbey Lincoln, All Through the Years. But with the arrival of the band, the temperature quickly rose. A powerful feature of the single-set gig was the partnership of world-jazz trumpeter Byron Wallen and UK flautist Gareth Lochrane. Lochrane's fluency, singing tone and bright ideas balanced Wallen's explosively percussive phrasing, and their pairing augured pretty well for a projected Mseleku tour later in the year.

A fast Latin groover signalled the intensifying of Mseleku's confidence and attack, and he was soon extending long, diamond-bright runs across the bar-lines and chorus breaks, with drummer Winston Clifford and bassist Simon Thorpe urgently on his tail. The pianist's ballad feature uncannily suggested McCoy Tyner at his most formidable, and Lochrane's negotiation of a fast Mseleku tune in Chick Corea's Return to Forever manner raised plenty of eyebrows. A little uneven - but if Bheki Mseleku is back in business here, it can only be good news for the UK scene.