While discussing what to play next, Gilad Atzmon turned to the audience then changed his mind. "Why should I ask you?", he said, "You paid to suffer". There was an irony in this typical Atzmon remark as, sitting on a stool, he explained he had recently broken both arms and needed to support the weight of the sax. As the evening progressed it was clear it was Atzmon who was suffering. Yet this injection of pain seemed to drive a musician who is well-known for the unrelenting pace and fire of his playing to reach even greater heights. The evening was virtually a muscular torrent of music with brief eddies and sudden depths.

On both tenor and alto, Atzmon has absorbed the lessons of Parker's fluid fast bebop and Coltrane's hard intensity. Beginning the evening on tenor with There is no greater love, he played the melody with a soaring attack highly reminiscent of Coltrane's recording, then shifted gear to produce an irrepressible outpouring that clearly harked back to the best of Parker. This combination is just one aspect of a multifaceted and individual musician who, at the same time, has a highly ironic take on the whole business of jazz, world politics and in particular being Israeli. His first album, entitled Exiles made it clear how Atzmon regards his country of birth. Later in the evening, deciding to play Donna Lee, a tune that makes many horn players sweat Atzmon quipped: "I spent an evening with Donna Lee. She was so fast." He then dropped the pace and, in contrast with much of his earlier soloing, made the melody sound like a stroll in the park.

Atzmon is a player who can easily unsettle backing musicians by the sheer ferocity of his playing but Pete Oxley and Mark Doffman were well up to the challenge and the presence of Atzmon's own bass player, Yaron Stavi, gave the band a special tightness and individuality. Atzmon will be back in the spring with his music from his new album (Artie Fishel), a unique slant on jazz. This is another coup for the club and an event for everyone's diary - so long as you can take a bit of iconoclasm along the way.