If ever there was an ensemble whose essence is captured in live performance, then it is Andersen's trio with Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia. The next best thing, is of course, a live album. In-House Science is their second live album (their first, Live at Belleville, was recorded in 2008) and it is unquestionably their best recorded work thus far. A regular on the touring/festival circuits since their formation in 2008, they have built up both learned and intuitive responses to each others' playing, usually called ‘empathy’, a vital ingredient for the essence of jazz to flourish by inspiring confidence and risk-taking. There is something about Andersen's playing that brings the very best out of Smith – this surely is his most inspired playing on record – but that shouldn't come as a surprise. Andersen has history as the catalyst and vital component on countless ECM classics, including those with Jan Garbarek, his own quartets in the 1970s, the often overlooked, but nevertheless quite remarkable, Masqualero in the 1980s (that began life as the Arild Andersen Quintet, with Nils Petter Molvær, Jan Balke, Tore Brunborg and Jon Christensen), a remarkable concert at Molde with John Taylor and Alphonse Mouzon and subsequently any number of high profile collaborations. He has that X-factor which lifts and inspires; resolutely modern in his outlook he has incorporated electronics (‘North of the North Wind’) into his playing, but can be driving and uplifting (‘In-House’, ‘Blussy’) and sensitive and thoughtful with his note choices (‘Mira’).