Hotfoot from Eastern Europe, Branford Marsalis alerted us about three brand new, under-rehearsed numbers written for a forthcoming album, the quartet's first in two years. "We got 'em nearly right in Serbia, then screwed 'em up in Warsaw and sorta did halfway better in Krakow," admitted the laid-back New Orleans saxophone virtuoso.

He didn't look too worried, however, and from bar one of Return of the Jitney Man, a grooving medium-paced original by drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts with a distinctive cross-rhythm interlude, it was clear that we had nothing to worry about either.

Switching from tenor to soprano sax, Marsalis then played a handsome untitled ballad by pianist Joey Calderazzo. Song for Sidney would be my suggestion, because something about this theme's plaintive minor-key changes brought out the Bechet in Branford's sound.

Thelonious Monk also figured in the evening's repertoire. Rhythm-a-ning received a funk-to-swing makeover, and bassist Eric Revis weighed in with a quirky original entitled Sphere, which was of course Monk's middle name. This is truly a group that breathes as one, even out of tempo, as demonstrated during Marsalis's "English period" number, Sir Roderick The Aloof.

He and Calderazzo took eloquent rubato solos here while Watts, stroking the cymbals and hitting subdued chattering rimshots, showed his lesser-appreciated talents as a light-and-shade man.

For his encore Marsalis went back to basics with a tenor chase through Ray Brown's bop blues, Two Bass Hit.

This storming finish was an exhilarating antidote to the tense, over-elaborate, stop-start opening set by Andrew McCormack's trio, latest victims of a virulent anti-swing virus currently afflicting London's piano trios. Let's wish them all a speedy recovery.