Each year a star player is invited to front the BBC Big Band in some expansive music of his or her own choosing. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove was well up to standard. The slim Texan brought some scintillating scores and conducted them faultlessly. He also played brilliantly, particularly in a blistering first-half set with his dynamic young US quintet. Heated altoist Justin Robinson, mighty drummer Montez Coleman, propulsive bassist Danton Boller and an outstanding pianist, the dreadlocked Gerald Clayton, held nothing back. After an Afro-Cuban mambo, a gospel romp and a Cedar Walton burner, Hargrove restored order with a sumptuous flugel-horn ballad, Speak Low at the slowest tempo at which music can swing.

The second half, compered for BBC Radio 3 by Julian Joseph with his customary air of benign charm and mild bewilderment, contained a few hiccups but gathered steam when bandsmen including trumpeter Martin Shaw and saxophonists Martin Williams and Andy Panayi joined the solo roster. These are players of international class but an American rhythm section as crisp as Hargrove’s was still a distinct bonus.

So, too, was the vivacious Roberta Gambarini, a scat-singing guest from New York via Turin. She performed one number in Spanish, persuaded Roy to sing a chorus of September in the Rain, and swapped four-bar breaks with him in a snappy blues chase that rounded off a successful evening. Listen to the results on BBC iPlayer.
Until Sunday (londonjazzfestival.org.uk and bbc.co.uk/radio3).