Despite its association with aspects of modernity, much jazz is surprisingly regressive, lodged in a time when Miles Davis was cool' and Coltrane was out there'. Although imaginative and technically brilliant, many of today's players lean well into this frame, rooting their music in a tradition of melody and solos, and return to melody, backed by bass and drums, giving a rhythmic carpet to which the audience can happily tap a foot.

Yet there are plenty of others picking up the challenge laid down in the 1960s by the likes of Albert Ayler, who have moved jazz into more fluid and unpredictable territory in which players are more creators and connectors than soloists.

Pat Thomas, a pianist and improviser of international standing, is such a musician, who in company with - in this case - vibes player Orphy Robinson can innovate on the bandstand as effortlessly as most of us would slide into an overcoat.

There is a sense in which Thomas operates like a classical composer, feeding off all that has come before, accepting, rejecting, remixing and then adding in his own ideas with a speed and spontaneity which is quite awe-inspiring. He has the technique and timing which allows him suddenly to open unexpected doors into new musical spaces.

On this occasion, Orphy Robinson's electronic vibes had expired. leaving him to play on a single steel drum. Rather than limiting the music, this merely forced him to use the pan' in ever more creative ways and show how articulate such an apparently simple instrument can be in the hands of a great player.

His use of the pocket trumpet was also surprisingly agile and intense. Both Thomas and Robinson have an understanding of the importance of pulse and contrast, and share the ability to create and transform, to pass melodic phrases and rhythmic patterns back and forth, a process in which Dudley Philips on acoustic bass was a willing and equally adept participant.

Ultimately this was rich, exuberant music and an example of spontaneous creativity to which every aspiring jazz student, and even more mature jazzers, should pay close attention.