Tenderlonious channels Tubby Hayes at Ronnie Scott’s

Multi-talented Ed Cawthorne, aka Tenderlonious, has been a teenage DJ, a producer of electronic beats, a sideman in a pop band and the founder of a record label. As a saxophonist he plays in at least three bands, and collaborates with musicians all over the world. Tonight’s band represents his tribute to the jazz players and composers who have inspired him: the music follows a mellow path, with material that wouldn’t sound out of place in a set from Chip Wickham.

Cawthorne’s love of music from the subcontinent explains the sinuous, minor-key echoes of Yusef Lateef in ‘spiritual jazz’ tunes like ‘On the Nile’ from his forthcoming album. He’s a melodic player, first and foremost, who switches between alto saxophone and flute. Somehow or other Tenderlonious also has in his possession a piccolo played by Tubby Hayes towards the end of his life: “It sits in a drawer most of the time,” he confides, describing it as “a piece of shit” before playing it anyway on Tubbs’s modal excursion ‘Raga’ from the infamous Mexican Green album.

Tenderlonious exudes geezerish charm: he reveals that he’s had to go back to an unspecified day job in anticipation of his second child’s arrival in October. He brandishes the merch, which includes a poster featuring child no.1 and his dad posing on a squash court.

In pianist Hamish Balfour, Mr.T has found the perfect foil, a cool modernist to his fingertips, full of grace and rippling flourishes. Electric bassist Pete Martin and drummer Tim Carnegie add their own subtle and sophisticated contributions as the night goes on.  Such is the nature of the music that what we lose in harmonic variation we more than gain in vibe.

Two classic tracks stand out from this satisfying evening: Bill Lee’s haunting waltz tune  ‘John Coltrane’ and - appropriately enough - Wayne’s Shorter’s gorgeous ‘Infant Eyes’.