A glance at Billy Cobham's recording history from the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Miles Davis to today reveals a drummer who has been at the top of the pile for longer than many other jazz musicians have managed to stay alive. A glance at his web site shows he has hardly slowed in recent years. Looking round in the dimness before the band came on revealed an audience a lot more mature than the usual Zodiac crowd, and one couldn't help wondering why a musician of this class wasn't being put on at a venue with a bit more style and comfort. The sound in the Zodiac is not sympathetic to jazz and there is not a seat in the joint.

Born in Panama, Cobham has gone back to his roots in this collaboration with Asere, a group from Havana who are highly accomplished interpreters of Cuban Son, the traditional music of dance halls and street bands. In the context of a music that uses complex polyrhythmic lines on a variety of instruments, but not kit drums, the addition of a player like Cobham is both an anomaly and a logical progression.

For much of the first half he was just cruising but the occasional breaks and fills were a fascinating mix of the Cobham everyone had come to hear with the rhythmic patterns of Cuba. This mix of subtlety and modesty was a key to Cobham's playing throughout the evening. He was not using Asere as a vehicle to demonstrate his prowess but he used his undoubted skill to augment the music of a very tight and gifted band. A predictable extended solo in the second half turned into a duet with the exceptional conga player in which Cobham refrained from being overpowering.

Asere play a highly attractive music with great professionalism and style. The band was significantly strengthened by the trumpet playing of Michel Padron and the vivacity of conga-player and singer Vincente Arencibia who ended the gig on Cobham's drums while the legend himself gave a quick demonstration that he can even produce his personal magic on the timbal - two small drums and a cow bell.