When Miles Davis recruited young musicians for his bands and recordings, he invariably brought out qualities they hardly knew about themselves. Now, many of those Davis alumni are bandleaders themselves, with a knack for attracting and keeping talented new recruits, and the latest to visit London's most celebrated jazz club is saxophonist Kenny Garrett.
What fans value in Ronnie's is its undiluted authenticity. Whether the music comes from a standards trio, some masters of mainstream or loud fusion, you can walk in off the sleazy Soho streets to lose yourself in improvised music of quality, devoid of self-conscious niche-marketing, quota-checking or edge-smoothing.
And that's what Garrett's young quartet delivers: full-on jazz played with a virtuosic intensity that's quintessentially American. They start the set with Chief Blackwater, a loosely structured piece in the Coltrane quartet mould, but with Garrett's alto in the ascendant, playing a long, passionate and note-encrusted solo. Drummer Ronald Bruner Jr maintains an incessant, incendiary pulse, like a hard-rocking Elvin Jones.
Kris Funn's sneaky double-bass riff underpins Wayne's Thang, the sort of chirpy jazz-funk that can sound anodyne on record. Fortunately, Kenny Garrett is not Kenny G. Bruner's quasi-military snare part is a delight - a witty, virtuosic way of playing the funky drummer with bespoke detail lifting it right out of the everyday.
Sing a Song softens the pace until pianist Carlos McKinney works up a hammer-flattening solo that dissolves into delirious bombast. There are times when he seems to be in some sort of contest with Bruner to be louder, faster, brainier, flashier.
This "extreme sports" aspect of jazz is easy to mock but it's also part of the circus-like appeal of this kind of jazz. As a bandleader, Garrett keeps it real. Even when he's playing deliciously groove-based, audience-pleasing numbers such as Happy People, the edgy, bright- eyed set-closer, he creates an authentic, focused musical experience.
· Until tomorrow. Box office: 020-7439 0747
