Whenever relief is required from the background hum of what's in, out, live, dead, hip or unhip, an improvisers' band concentrating simply on creative conversations between inventive individuals works a treat. American guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and his quintet didn't concern themselves much with familiar jazz guitarists' vocabularies - John Scofield's bluesiness, Bill Frisell's avant-country or Pat Metheny's flowing fusion - but the band made a vivid impression in its own way with strong compositions, tight ensemble playing and powerful individual input, notably from a wonderful young pianist, Aaron Goldberg, and from Eric Harland, one of the most creative small-band drummers on the international circuit.

Benny Golson's Along Came Betty kicked things in, a rolling soulful swinger delivered as a unison line by Rosenwinkel and the drily patient saxophonist Chris Cheek. Cheek's tenor tone is very unusual in the post-Coltrane sax world, oddly woody and plaintive. Rosenwinkel also avoids theatricalities and developed his long first solo in smooth lines with barely a hint of a slur or a wail. Pianist Goldberg then unleashed the first of a series of stunning improvisations that made listeners crane their necks to check him out, and brought a private smile to the face of Harland, who picked up the pianist's enthusiasm for looping repeated phrases. Goldberg was always trying to shift the music into fresh rhythmic and tonal territories and he and Harland constantly fuelled the band's energies.

An almost Kurt Weillian theme brought eloquent solos from Rosenwinkel and Cheek, and an unaccompanied guitar ballad, played largely in chords, turned into steady swing. Later, a drum intro from Harland drew a storm of applause on its own, before leading us in to a devious postbop melody. Very classy contemporary jazz.