Graham Fitkin is a young British composer whose work has attracted much attention. He has had commissions from many leading orchestras and has collaborated with some of the best performers of new music. So it was great to see Oxford Contemporary Music hosting a performance by Fitkin and his band last week.

Fitkin’s work is firmly in the tradition of minimalist composers like Steve Reich and John Adams. He has written instrumental and orchestral works and has collaborated on a number of interesting dance and video projects. In 2009 won a British Composer of the Year Award for his stage work Reel.

The music performed during the concert mixed minimalism with mainstream jazz, with a dash of folk and pop thrown in. Repeated rhythmic patterns, shifts in phasing and the overlaying of new patterns provided the essential structure of each piece.

Soft Wac, which opened the second half, illustrated these basic architectural principles. As with Reich’s Clapping Music, the performers clap the piece, creating a constantly evolving series of patterns. They start in unison but then gradually build a complex texture of varying cross-rhythms.

The instrumental pieces operate on the same basis, but with the addition of sound colour and melodic motifs. The combination of saxophones, trumpet, percussion, piano, double bass, electric guitar and harp made for some kaleidoscopic textures. I particularly liked a piece called Vamp, with its echoes of Ska. There was some great percussion playing from Joby Burgess in this number. Several pieces featured a bray harp, played by Ruth Wall, its folksy twang contributing an astringent element to the mix. The band played two tight, clean sets which could perhaps have been longer. The performances were highly professional and polished.

Fans of Fitkin’s music will be interested to note that the BBC Proms this year include a new work, PK, which the composer will conduct. For future OCM activities see www.ocmevents.org