Jazz Allstars bring American cool to sweltering London

St Martin-in-the-Fields, London: Rhapsody in Blue – James Pearson and the Ronnie Scott's Allstars

It was truly a stellar line-up that brought some of the best of America's popular jazz composers to St Martin's stunning church setting this week.

From the opening Leonard Bernstein overture to a concluding romp through Rodgers and Hart classic The Lady is a Tramp, this collection of some of the cream of the current British jazz crop had a packed audience rapt and whooping through the two hour show.

Heading up the team for this canter through 'The Great American Songbook' was acclaimed pianist and musical director James Pearson, whose improvisational skills have been compared by Sir John Dankworth to legends like Oscar Peterson and George Shearing.

Pearson's amiable stage presence and awesome flying fingers were entertaining enough, but his arrangements also were light and sophisticated, allowing his team of all stars to shine when their (regular) moments came. Working all over the world, as well as heading up the Ronnie Scott's houseband, playing, arranging and composing with the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Big Band, he also works in film and many other music mediums.

His hand-picked support came from brass maestro Andrew Wood (trombone, trumpet and euphonium), outstanding on Secret Love from the 1953 Doris Day film Calamity Jane; violinist and vocalist Lizzie Ball, who shone on many a number, particularly the South American piece Esquela and a Stephane Grapelli-like It Had To Be You; and sax/clarinettist and Perrier Award winner Sam Mayne, whose soloing was a joy throughout.

Owen Gunnell's percussion was striking throughout, and the rhythm team of "powerhouse" drummer Dave Ohm and fluid bassist and jump-jive specialist Simon Thorpe came especially to the fore in a ferocious run through Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag and Sweet Georgia Brown.

Gershwin's romantic, sweeping centrepieces Rhapsody in Blue and An American In Paris were both sweetly delivered – particularly as Pearson had found a way to make orchestral pieces work as a seven-piece – and there were also stunning renditions of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and They Can't Take That Away From Me, featuring fantastically voiced singer-songwriter Debra Andrew.

The only minor criticisms were the sound balance, which occasionally saw Owen Gunnell's vibes a bit too low in the mix, and Ohm's thunderous drumming sometimes mask the subtleties of Ball's violin and vocal; and the rather poor quality programme, which needed an insert sheet to cover all the band's biogs, and should have been a classier affair to match the quality of the music.

But overall, a storming evening which delivered a welcome cool jazz breeze into the sticky London air. First class.

Russ Bravo