Jim Hart leads a thrilling evening with the Royal Academy Jazz Orchestra and Sylvaine Hélary

For two hours without a break, this young ensemble blitzed the Royal Academy’s in-house Susie Sainsbury Theatre with the thrilling compositions of vibesmeister Jim Hart. The opener ‘Full Circle’ was like the soundtrack to a movie crime thriller from the early 1970s complete with car chases and split-screen effects too. The spirit of Quincy Jones was in the house - not an entirely fanciful notion, since there’s a photo of Q in the corridor outside, commemorating the great man’s visit to RAM in 2016. But there was also something of Bernard Hermann to these melodies and arrangements, complete with the sort of blaring car-horn effects we hear in the soundtrack to Taxi Driver.

One of the evening’s many delights was the way the arrangements made full use of the orchestra and its visiting soloists - Hart himself (who lives in France) and virtuoso French flautist Sylvaine Hélary. Everyone grabbed their chance to shine with both hands, but notable for their classy individual contributions were altoist Tom Jarvis, trumpet-player George Hilliam and vocalists Sylvie Noble and Anastasija Stanojevic. The four-man rhythm section was a shifting alliance of eight players, who swapped seats regularly throughout the gig.

Nick Smart, conductor of this entertainment, is RAM’s head of jazz, and can take the credit for coaxing performances of rare quality from his youthful players, delivered with acoustic perfection in this recently built theatre.

The only question that remains is: was it recorded? I do hope so.