Say what you like about Ronnie Scott's, and occasionally somebody should, nothing currently touches it for cultural diversity. Patrons were jolted from Jeff Beck to Mozart yesterday, quite a switch.

Whereas Beck was of no interest to jazz lovers, Guy Barker's project most definitely was. The objective, as he explained, was not "to jazz up the classics, which is terrible" but simply to justify an attractive invitation to the Mostly Mozart Festival in sunny San Diego.

How? Well, this versatile trumpeter is noted as a talented arranger whose play-on links add wit to the annual BBC jazz awards. Given a good story his scores could have real meaning, so he asked crime novelist Robert Ryan to update the libretto of The Magic Flute.

Ryan set it in New York gangland, recognising Mozart's opera as "a simple quest by a guy who falls in love with a girl's picture and vows to find her". The result, slickly narrated by US actor Michael Brandon, is a feast of film-noir big-band dramatics.

Having fun touring with this Amadeus album is a 13-man lineup packed with ace soloists. Fiery Aussie tenorist Graeme Blevins and world-class Italian altoist Rosario Giuliani both sparkled. So did trombonists Barnaby Dickinson and Alistair White, keyboarder Jim Watson and drummer Ralph Salmins.

Yet the best moments came from the ensembles, especially jazz-funk passages anchored by the gravelly bass-clarinet of Swedish reedman Per "Texas" Johannsen. High jinks, yet high in quality.