According to the current cliche, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio has expanded the parameters of the straight-ahead jazz trio.

Maybe, but it's debatable whether they ever had a classical American feel. I believe they were always dancing to a different drummer, one with a Swedish accent.

Today, after 10 successful years on the road and shedloads of albums sold, they have forged their own sound and become very good at what they do.

Their main objective is to create a mood. It's a sophisticated operation. By milking the last drop of atmosphere from every song, layer by layer, they make six numbers fill a complete concert. Last night they prudently selected 800 Streets for Feet, Goldwrap and The Gold-Hearted Miner, from their new CD, Tuesday Wonderland.

Rhythmically they were as tight as ever, with Magnus Ostrom's drum patterns building the tension while Dan Berglund's bowed double-bass lines blended into unisons with Svensson's left hand.

The leader was in impish form, meddling with the piano strings and twiddling with a boombox to produce fashionable touches of electronica.

Beside his familiar elements of early Keith Jarrett were chordal hints of postmodern composers and a few gospel and blues touches that kept everything inside the broad jazz ballpark.

How well it was all done - down to the giant video images of the players up on screen. It took a canny group to demonstrate that inspiration deserves artful presentation.