Generously, Snarky Puppy keyboardist Bill Laurance dedicates this beautifully-recorded (perhaps it’s a tad too pristine – a bit more of the audience would have helped convey a club-concert atmosphere) nine-track live set to his first piano teacher, the late Mel Robinson. The teacher so affectionately commemorated obviously taught his pupil well. Laurance – backed by drummer Marijus Aleksa and Jonathan Harvey (equally at home on double and electric bass) – draws on material from his Swift, Flint and Aftersun studio albums and extends the pieces out, often expansively. In every case, the live version is superior to the studio rendering; it’s as if the stripped-back discipline of the trio format has forced each musician to find new voicings for the material. Nowhere is this more true than on a ringing, extended version of ‘The Pines’, which is driven by Harvey’s propulsive walking bass lines and Aleksa’s superb cymbal work; over this, Laurance lays virtuosic, exploratory and melodic lines often reminiscent of the great Ahmad Jamal. Elsewhere the skittering ‘Chia’ and a plangent ‘Madeleine’ demonstrate that the acoustic piano trio format can still be, in the right hands, a vital and relevant expression within jazz.

Repeated listens reveal a delightful, almost telepathic interplay between the three musicians (especially on ‘Golden Hour’, ‘Red Sand’ and the aforementioned ‘Madeleine’) and tracks like ‘Swag Times’ and ‘The Real One’ (Harvey’s electric bass playing on these two is just magnificent, incidentally) reveal plenty of grit and drive; as well as an innate swing that’ll have even the most hardened cynic tapping their foot and grinning from ear to ear.

Yet despite the power, melody and harmony is never sacrificed – look no further than ‘The Good Times’ with its surging bass guitar, rock-influenced drumming and Peterson-esque piano runs.

Laurance and his rhythm section prove there’s plenty of life left in this old three-way musical dog yet. One suspects that Live at Ronnie Scott’s could make a lot of Jazzwise’s ‘Best of 2020’ lists come the end of the year. I’m almost certain it’ll be on mine.