Chick Corea
Ronnie Scott's Club, W1
***

Prim is a word seldom applied to Chick Corea, but after 20 minutes of sedate chamber-jazz by the great US pianist, numbness began to set in. Monk's Mood and It Could Happen to You offered expert chordwork and nimble phrasing, but one wondered where all the Friday-night fever had gone.

Possibly the club's new sound-system, sensitive enough to catch the faintest onstage click, had an inhibiting effect on the players. Certainly the feathery style of Hans Gevischnik didn't help. No deep groover, the German double-bassist spent most of the evening crouched over his bridge, plucking altissimo notes from the end of the fingerboard, Scott LaFaro style. Sure enough, along came Gloria's Step, a rarely-heard Bill Evans piece associated with LaFaro.

On drums was Marcus Gilmore, precocious 17-year-old nephew of that peerless drummer Roy Haynes. A post-modern minimalist of the Brian Blade school, he used oblique rattles and rolls to suggest the rhythm almost by innuendo. The game was to swing without stating a single obvious beat. Very clever, but very cold.

It was left to the band's only Brit, Tim Garland, to inject some genuine heat. All the most emotive moments came from his free-wheeling tenor, soprano and bass-clarinet solos.

• Tonight: Chucho Valdes. Information: 020 7439 0747.