Congratulations to Patsy Craig and Zhenya Strigalev of Charlie Wright’s for upstaging rival promoters with more money but less taste by bringing two of Manhattan’s hottest jazz talents to their homely Hoxton bar.

Bass-guitar ace Foley McCreary starred in Amandla and other albums from Miles Davis’s final electro-funk period, while Chris “Daddy” Dave is a drum phenomenon who would surely have joined Davis, too, had the Prince of Darkness paced himself a few extra years.

Together they are arguably the baddest drum-and-bass combination on the planet. A pity their front-line voice, fiery tenorist Gary Thomas, failed to join them. No reasons were given, but Thomas is a noted stickler for cash guarantees.

On a previous visit, to Islington’s ill-fated Club Rhythmic, he was handed a cheque after the show and responded by hauling the offender up against the bandroom wall and socking him in his mouth.

Strigalev was, therefore, pressed into action. His free-edged piping alto-sax did noble service but for a white Russian to replace a black New Yorker under such testing circumstances was never going to be easy, even after rehearsal time. He did get a couple of Foley’s hyper-funky themes under his fingers but his solos struggled to ride the pair’s taut, stop-start beat patterns.

Nefertiti, a theme forever associated with Miles, was the evening’s most successful number, bass and sax repeating its sinuous melody line while Dave’s drums boiled with power and skill. You won’t find another drummer of such sustained energy anywhere.
Until tomorrow (0844 477 1000).