Leader of the pack Ben Wendel is presented here live at the legendary New York venue, at the helm of an all-star band.

Wendel is known for his ferociously ambitious approach to playing jazz and this album won’t disappoint fans of his distinctive voice as improvisor and composer. ‘I Saw You Say’ brings us in gently with some bluesy phrases over a mid-tempo backbeat, with Linda May Han Oh’s clear-toned vocal exerting a calming influence before Wendel takes over, his hard tone and endless flow of sixteenth notes turning up the temperature against Obed Calvaire’s turbulent drumming.

It’s undeniably exciting stuff, and the live atmosphere, with audible yells of encouragement from the band, effectively dispels the cerebral atmosphere that sometimes dominates Wendel’s studio recordings.

The twisty unison passages of ‘Proof’, delivered with diamond precision at breakneck speed, are almost comically proficient, and ‘Lu’ delivers all the rhythmic ingenuity one could wish for, but ‘Scosh’ has a loping groove and a blues drenched solo from Clayton by way of accessible contrast. A relatively straight ‘On The Trail’ is a deliberate nod to the Vanguard’s rich heritage and ‘Tao’ has a Jarrett-like country gospel flavour. It’s a nicely balanced set played by a band of musicians at the top of their respective games - Clayton is a very compatible player, matching the leader’s facility inside and outside, and the rhythm team of Han Oh and Calvaire are simply terrific and give this music all the grounding and excitement it needs to fly.