San Francisco's Jazz Collective sounds as if it ought to be a bunch of hairy stoners droning their way through all-night improv epics for a handful of glazed disciples. In fact, it's mostly a group of shaven-headed, sharp-suited postbop pros, hustling through meticulously organised contemporary jazz and the occasional elegantly made-over classic-jazz hit.

Tenor saxist and frontman Joshua Redman announced that the collective (which mostly plays original music by all its members) has the rare jazz luxury of a couple of weeks' rehearsal time each year. The concert then demonstrated both the upside and the downside of this fastidious preparation.

Eric Harland's Elvin Jones-like power to scatter the beat but never lose its forceful clarity, Nicholas Payton's scorching trumpet range and precision, Joshua Redman's ability to be emphatic at low volumes, and Bobby Hutcherson's gift for the succinct spontaneous melody - all took their places in the overall shape. Herbie Hancock's music was the classic-jazz reference, and the airy funkiness of his And What If I Don't, a glitteringly delicate Maiden Voyage and a roaring, tumbling Riot were the highlights of the long single set.

So was Payton's own Sudoku, a conundrum of a piece that began in short, blurted phrase-swaps and wound up in exhilarating Ornette Colemanesque badinage between Redman and alto saxist Miguel Zenon. Redman's intricate Parallelogram hit a compelling groove driven by Renee Rosnes's piano vamp, and Zenon's Collective Overture turned from a slow and loose horn fanfare to a kind of avant-Latin burner. But bassist Matt Penman's Frosted Evils and, surprisingly, Bobby Hutcherson's encore Immanent Treasures (most of the titles have that profound-on-the-surface quality) drifted out of focus, and the players sometimes sounded rather in awe of their highly polished materials. Hearing them unwinding after hours - now that would be something else.