One could apply terms like straightahead, avant garde and hip-hop jazz to highlight the differences between these relatively unsung American players, but that would be missing the point. The common thread here was their ability to wrong-foot the audience.

On Saturday at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, young trumpeter Sean Jones got the ball rolling with a creative take on the bebop lexicon. Although he played hard, fast and high, hitting top Cs that would have made Freddie Hubbard wince, Jones brought a gorgeously ethereal soul sound to the table. His acoustic quintet was smartly understated, especially when joined by vocalist Carolyn Perteete. Chords whispered, melodies hovered and the spirit of Earth, Wind & Fire wafted gracefully into the set. Jones and band hummed dreamy, wordless choruses to ram the point home.

Tuesday night at the Barbican saw veteran drummer Steve Reid also make a move nobody saw coming: he recited a poem on the subject of rhythm, laden with stark, political Watts Prophets undertones before leading his band into loose, freewheeling jams that morphed into hard, stabbing funk. Kieran Hebden's electronics enriched proceedings, but the ensemble voice was at times too muddy and diffuse.

An hour later at Cargo, rapper Napoleon Maddox and alto saxophonist Oliver Lake thrilled a responsive crowd by trading places. The former's fizzy beat-boxing turned him into a savvy bassist-percussionist, while the latter became a sterling blues singer-poet between bouts of blowing. Their band, anchored by powerhouse drummer Hamid Drake, pumped out ferociously tight live beats all night, but still gave Lake room to stretch out with ecstatic high-register solos.

· The festival continues until Sunday. www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk