Tom Allan is a very composed figure on stage, the only extraneous body movement being little more than a sharply raised eyebrow. But this physical stasis is not reflected in his playing on trumpet and flugelhorn. As a member of the more experimental F-ire Collective and a regular player with the Dele Sosimi’s Afrobeat Orchestra, Allan is obviously a sought after musician at home with more than the regular four-to-the-bar of jazz standards.

As guest soloist with the Spin trio, he played both the well-known and the more unusual with a mix of measured reflection and imaginative flair. In the Spin guitarist Pete Oxley’s sharp and ironic Lodder Leaps In, Allan showed how he can give new dimension to a well-used harmonic structure with flowing and unusually long statements in a context where other players would use shorter building blocks of music to build up a solo. On the other hand, in the everlasting favourite Estate, Allan used the rounded tone of the flugelhorn to breathe a particular sombre fire into the extended phrases of the tune and on into his solo. In contrast to this again back on trumpet he seemed just at home on the funky jazz rock of Gareth Lochrane’s Surf’s Up though the same thoughtfulness of approach was evident behind the sparkling surface.

This was altogether a faultless performance that drew the audience with it but it must again be noted that praise should also go to the Spin trio, which on this occasion included the remarkable Arnie Somogyi, a bass player with the ability to lay down a line that gives added colour without interfering with the melody and solos. Alongside him, Mark Doffman, master of a well-held groove, pulled out a number of great solos. Meanwhile, Pete Oxley, guitarist and well-loved Spin MC, was in particularly fine form, moving effortlessly from ballad to a hard-edged jazz rock as in Radiohead’s Exit Music. The Spin’s success as one of the best venues outside the M25 depends not only on the programming of great players and bands, but the continuous quality of the house band itself.