Jazz is as much a natural breeding ground for egotistical playing as any other form of music but with its reliance on improvisation and group interplay it is equally dependent on musical equality. By this description a trio is either the perfect stage for a single ego with rhythmic support or the basis for balanced music-making between three equals.

Danish bass player Jasper Høiby’s trio Phronesis is very much the latter. With Ivo Neame on piano and Anton Eger on drums, this is a superb matching of three exceptional musicians who come together to produce music that has that magical extra which is more than the sum of their individual talents.

Part of this lies in Høiby’s compositions. His melodies mix complex rhythms and time signatures with a continually forward-moving drive over open-spaced melodies that results in a compelling mix of sophistication and straight forward groove. As a bass player Høiby has understood that compositions that rely on intricacy alone can so easily stumble under their own cleverness.

There is no stumbling in Phronesis. Høiby, pictured, has a full warm tone on bass with extraordinarily relaxed and precise phrasing on even the fastest passages while Eger on drums keeps up a constantly shifting vein of rhythm that rarely drops into a simple three or four. Over this Ivo Neame will often come in with a burst of dense phrases played at a contrasting rhythm or an expansive melody floating over the top.

This could all lead to a jarring of the senses but as there is nothing wasted and nothing over-played the result is a magnificently rich and imaginative form of jazz that has taken lessons from the great EST and moved forward.

Despite technical problems, Ivo Neame played with the quirky fluency and imagination for which he is becoming well-known. Høiby is a bass player who captures the attention immediately as does Eger on drums, the two complimenting and responding intuitively in this line-up.

With a new album on the way, Phronesis is a masterful trio to watch that provided another evening of cutting music at the Spin.