As with all other aspects of social-cultural life, the pandemic put the brakes on Ben Cottrell's much-admired Manchester-based Beats & Pieces Big Band's third studio album release. Meanwhile Cottrell's approach to writing for the band had changed from previously presenting his band with more-or-less finished compositions to developing and finely-tuning his originals during rehearsal and workshops.

Whether all this played its part or not, Good Days sounds like a more grown-up recording than previous albums highlighted by All In (2015), with its invigorating indie-punk immediacy, and the explosive ‘live’ album Ten (2018), which marked the band's first decade on the road.

Released on the bandleader's indie jazz label Efpi, Good Days is less full-on, the ‘indie rock guitar band within a jazz big band’ approach a less central one. But fans will be happy to know that Cottrell's big band writing and outlook still steers clear of the more formal, polite approaches to large ensemble arrangements.

There's a few changes in personnel, though a few of Cottrell's henchmen such as drummer Finlay Panter and trumpeter Nick Walters remain. Cottrell gives soloists time and space to develop their improvisations and it pays dividends with exciting solos all round. On the other hand, this is a band with a vigorous collective spirit echoing progressive big band traditions from Mingus to Sun Ra and early Bley through to Loose Tubes. Yet they’re equally capable of adding floatier, more pastoral-like soundscapes à la Maria Schneider. Sounds informed by a broad range of contemporary music from epic dream-pop, post-rock through to metal, still come into play and found-sound street samples are a nice addition to the atmospheric narrative.

Good Days demonstrates that Beats & Pieces are still one of the more adventurous and exhilarating large contemporary jazz ensembles in the UK today.