Emergence is the brainchild of the young London-based American bassist Michael Janisch, whose virtuosity has put him in the UK's top jazz flight since his arrival in 2005. Janisch's connections with the Royal Academy of Music brought in trumpeter Gerard Presencer, and Janisch's old New York connections hooked in the quirky, ingenious American saxophonist Mark Turner. The three are complemented by pianist Jason Rebello and drummer/composer Troy Miller in a postbop quintet that fizzes with promise.

The group has played two opening gigs at the Pizza Express. The strengths of its soloists naturally make it a hot ticket, and drummer Miller (a former BBC Young Musician of the Year classical finalist) has composing skills that cross Marsalis-style jazz, soul and UK urban music. His elegant first-half ballad, with its sumptuous flugelhorn/sax theme, established just how melodically and rhythmically adventurous Rebello - a star of the late-80s British jazz revival - continues to be. With his characteristically pure-toned mix of soft, undulating lines, offbeat pauses and squirming ascents, Mark Turner sounded somewhere between an oboist and a violinist than an alto saxist, and his solos infallibly gripped attention.

Presencer, a more orthodox post- bopper than Turner, has a remarkable ability to preserve the flugelhorn's warmth while giving it a trumpet-like bite. He brought contemporary flourishes to bluesy grooves, recalling classic Lee Morgan sessions. Rebello's Justin Time was a taut Latin groover over a staccato vamp to which the pianist brought an imperious Herbie Hancockish sweep; Turner investigated in the opposite way, as if minutely dissecting the possibilities of the harmony. Apart from him, Emergence doesn't challenge contemporary-jazz formulas, but they certainly have the potential.