I had been warned that the Bobo Stenson Trio were good but remained sceptical. Their latest album on the ECM label had failed to command my attention and this was one factor in my questioning the contemporary' credentials of Oxford Contemporary Music who promoted the concert at the Holywell Music Room on Friday. I was also unsure how well any mainstream jazz trio can accommodate themselves to the acoustics of the Holywell Room, an area where Trio failed significantly in the spring.

The pundits were right and my scepticism misplaced. The Bobo Stenson Trio were not just aware of the acoustics of the venue, they played to it. Where the album had led me to expect something on the edge of mainstream, the live concert moved from the conventional into entirely unexpected arenas of free improvisation with distinct colourings from Purcell through to Ravel.

There were long periods when there was no discernable pulse, only for a time signature to suddenly appear like a trick of the light. Bobo Stenson, a pianist with an extensive jazz CV, approaches the piano with the care and subtlety of a classical player using the dynamic range of the instrument in a way that is all too rare in a jazz context.

Add to this a powerful technique and wonderfully expressive phrasing that makes a simple phrase into a strong musical statement. This was made possible in a trio by the delicate touch and extraordinary precision of Anders Jormin on bass and the featherlike antics of Jon Falt on drums who gave a very visual demonstration of how to play kit drums without overpowering an unamplified piano. Falt's drumming was also a revelation in the way he employed the extreme techniques of free form, at times making playful use of the room's acoustics with almost inaudible touches.

When he did use sticks for an explosion of sound it seemed magically to come in the spaces between Stenson's phrases. This faultless cohesion between the three players indicated considerable hard work in the practice room yet the performance was full of the freshness of the best improvisation.