Candid records, once the proud imprint of Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Coleman Hawkins and Steve Lacy, has trouble signing such heavyweight original talent nowadays. So does Blue Note, Stacey Kent's new home, and just about every other label.

Singer-songwriter Mishka Adams launched Candid's showcase week last night and she had a tough roster to follow. Young and attractive, with the slightly bruised smile of a girl whose illusions have been dented by reality, she sang with taste and skill but not the powerful, charismatic voice that sustains a lengthy career. Such voices, of course, are extremely rare.

She could have no complaints about her backing group, a first-class quartet featuring trumpeter Paul Jayasinha and pianist Phil Peskett. Jayasinha, another Candid signing whose debut album, Round Trip, also launches this week, is a fast-improving player whose Afro-Cuban sessions have sharpened his technique. His sparkling trumpet and flugelhorn solos were the highlight of the evening.

Everybody was far too hip for straight-ahead swing, so most beats were of that busy electric-Miles 12/8 pattern that relegates the melody to half-tempo. But Mishka's set-closer ("an intelligent request") was different. A beautiful duet with Peskett on Jimmie Rowles's demanding ballad, The Peacocks, it should have been included on her album. Sadly, it wasn't.

• Tonight (020 7734 3220).