The first time I saw Badbone & Co, trombonist-leader Dennis Rollins was a rising star, making his mark on the UK. Seven years on, both Badbone and Rollins regularly win polls and awards, attesting to their popularity and credibility.

The impressive young team make Rollins' brass-led brand of funk-jazz sound effortless. Alex Bonfanti, on five-string bass, gives the band a fat low end, while funky drummer Jack Pollitt (whom Rollins discovered via MySpace) keeps it tight and clean enough to make it down and dirty.

It is a tribute to Rollins' skill as a leader and instrumentalist that he can do so much with the much-maligned idiom; in his hands, it is a genre with scope for creativity and space for expression. Horn-led bands such as the JBs and Earth Wind and Fire paved the way; Badbone show there is still ground to cover.

Guitarist Johnny Heyes bridges genres, playing a semi-acoustic that gives a jazzy edge to numbers such as Make Your Move; its groove implies a double-time jazz feel emphasised at the close by Bonfanti's walking bass. Fire in the House switches between straight-ahead jazz (led by Jay Phelps' fine trumpet and pianist Chris Gulino) and electronic funk. The finale has both parts running simultaneously - shades of Mingus and Ives.

But Rollins never forgets to entertain - the bad-ass riffs of Funk and Disorderly and (I Say ...) It's Alright are natural crowd-pleasers. On Red Cent, he turns the sound of the crowd to his advantage, creating an instant party mix, and persuades everyone to mimic his improvised phrases. And Rollins' ingenious re-invention of Love the One You're With, unleashing the funky soul of Stephen Stills, is a blockbuster.