One of last year's most exciting recording debuts was that of BAJC on HighNote. In existence on and off since 2012, this sextet, founded by Jeremy Pelt, Wayne Escoffery and Johnathan Blake is at last beginning to get more gigs, including a recent one at Ronnie Scott's. The music brings back the feel of the Jazz Messengers and the Miles-Shorter group, but given a strong modern twist and performed with a soulfulness that's sadly lacking in much of today's music. Though Pelt and Escoffery are the main writers, the others bring in tunes that fit nicely into the distinctive group sound – Blake's ‘Miller Time’, James Burton's ‘The Spin Doctor’ and, especially, the extra hard-hitting ‘When Will We Learn’ by the underrated Xavier Davis. Escoffery's outstanding album title-tune and the explosive closer, ‘Black Art’, bring out the composer's best solos. On ‘Art’, he recaptures the intensity of his recent Vortex album. Pelt contributes three originals, all different in concept – the very African-sounding ‘Awuraa Amma’, the smoothly swinging ‘Pretty’ and another of his heart-moving ballads, ‘And There She Was, Lovely As Ever’. The Archer-Blake team is terrific, with the latter's cymbals and rim shots in a world of their own, inspiring straight-to-the-point strong solos from Pelt and Escoffery in particular. BAJC could become a very important band.