Three decades after his death from an overdose of antidepressants, Nick Drake's legacy continues to fascinate. Nick Smart's jazz ensemble is one of two Drake tributes touring this week alone, although each offers something different. The mood is somehow set as he explains the meaning of Black Eyed Dog - one of Drake's most famous and harrowing songs. "It's a euphemism for depression," the trumpeter deadpans. "Which technically means this is Nick Smart's depression."

The Midlander's humour, almost as enjoyable a feature of this event as the music, cleverly sidesteps the curtain of gloom often associated with Drake's legacy. Similarly, emphasis falls on the lighter end of Drake's canon and particularly the more "up" album, Bryter Layter. Still, with the venue a former church, it's eerie watching the band in front of a tomb. Smart's star players initially appear too keen to add their tuppence worth, but there are fine individual performances from saxophonist Ian Dixon and mesmeric young singer Nick Mailing, undaunted by Way to Blue. But things really get going in the second half as the band root around in Drake's pored-over catalogue for undeveloped possibilities.

The brass parts from Hazey Jane III are taken to create a completely new work, driven by Paul Clarvis's fizzing rimshots. One of These Things First is reinvented as an African groove.

God Only Knows, from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, was a Drake favourite. "I figured because we both liked one of the world's most popular albums, there was obviously a deep spiritual connection," Smart says. But they're quickly back to Drake: River Man is sublimely sung by Christine Tobin. There's little here for those obsessed with the black heart of Drake's canon, but Smart's opening up of overlooked positivities means you hear him in a whole new light.