American Michael Janisch, like his hero Charlies Mingus, is a bass player who likes to lead from the front. But unlike Mingus, notorious for his belligerent manner on stage and off, Janisch exudes delight in the music and the solo flights of his band members. His quintet, known as the Transatlantic Quintet because of the UK/US mix of the personnel, came to the Spin at the end of a 20-gig tour of the UK and was consequently right on top of Janisch’s often demanding music. The band played with superb assurance and vitality. Janisch’s writing is an attractive mix of densely harmonised tunes and softer, more open pieces giving space for excellent improvisation. All the music came from his new album Purpose Built, and the arrangements made maximum use of the quintet by moving the solo spot around, altering the group from five to four, three and even a duo — in effect a bass solo. Within the quintet format the arrangement also got soloists to alternate single choruses, thus breaking up one of jazz’s more risky weapons — the almost too long solo.

In effect, the danger of overextended solos was no problem here as the players — all top instrumentalists — displayed imagination and technical courage. Janisch himself has a masterly and forceful style which is both mobile and unpredictable, so powerful bass lines use the full range of the instrument which in cooperation with the spare and edgy work from drummer Joachim Ruckert provided a rhythmic base that would push any player to their best. In the case of UK musicians Jim Hart (vibes) and Paul Booth (saxes) and New York trumpeter Jason Palmer, their best went well beyond the average. Palmer is a massively talented player with an ability to mix delicacy with hard edged blasts, a style that contrasted well with the more muscular manner of Paul Booth’s tenor playing. Beside these two, Jim Hart’s extraordinarily virtuoso vibes work gave another dimension to the quintet’s sound. Booth and Hart will both be the guest soloists at the Spin later this season.