Immediate comments at the end of this evening at the Spin included "one of the best gigs ever" and from an articulate member of the audience the one word "joyous". Curiously, neither pianist John Donaldson nor saxophonist Art Themen (both pictured), have reputations that balloon before them like, for example, Julian Joseph. But this might have as much to do with ego as musicality.

At the beginning of the evening, Donaldson expressed surprise to see his name at the top of the bill and described Art Themen as "their spiritual leader"; later Themen returned the compliment. These apparently slight comments reveal why this was such an exceptional evening. Both players are by nature givers as well as takers, which is not always the case. Live jazz can so easily be unbalanced by egotism (Gilad Atzmon is sometimes guilty of this). Also there were two other exceptional players on the stage: Mark Hodson, bass, and Asaf Sirkis, drums.

Donaldson is an astute and responsive accompanist, feeding and holding back as required, so that the solos from both Themen and bassist Mark Hodgson, who played some extraordinary powerful passages, were delicately supported. As a soloist, he has that rare ability to work geometrically, building not just a series of lines but an interlocking structure, a sonic three-dimensional form. There are no hints of repetition or looseness. Themen, now a retired surgeon with more time for jazz, has developed a style that is by turns softly lyrical and harshly wild with a solo style that, in contrast to Donaldson's, often moves into strange new territory where you can sense him constantly looking for new directions and never afraid to follow an unexpected path. He also has extraordinary control over split notes and overtones on the tenor to enrich these journeys.

The one sense of ego in the evening came from Asaf Sirkis, but then it's not possible to pin an audience to their seats with a drum solo without doing something dramatic and just a little overpowering. The rest of the time he was all colour and restraint.