It's mystifying why that eloquent singer/pianist/composer and producer Allen Toussaint doesn't work solo more often. As a one-man jazz-blues entertainer, with only his voice and piano for company, this sophisticated old charmer from New Orleans has few rivals.

If he weren't so gregarious, he might not have collaborated with so many other artists during his long life and developed a brilliant solo career instead.

Looking sharp and relaxed in his black pinstripe suit, Mr T invested the keyboard with Delta wisdom last night, spinning out an absorbing evening of quality songs, most of them his own.

Between numbers came memories and a respectful litany of star names - Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey, Dr John, Boz Scaggs, Frankie Miller, Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello among them - who had taught him, collaborated with him or covered his songs.

Dozens more (Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon and the Rolling Stones, for starters) stayed in the in-tray as Java, an elegant ragtime piece written when he was only 16, gave way to a slew of gumbo-spiced hits.

Brickyard Blues was superb and A Certain Girl, Working in a Coalmine, Soul Sister and Everything I Do Be Funky all had that infectiously lop-sided shufflebeat that belongs to Lousiana musicians alone. If you needed just one man to make your party go with a soulful swing, who else you gonna call?