Manchester’s Gondwana Records, under its founder Matthew Halsall, has provided a home for a parallel stream of contemporary UK jazz, with its roots in the club scene of trip hop, hip hop and funk and the explorations of the particular aspects of the jazz legacy that found favour with that scene. Halsall’s own Gondwana Orchestra has set out the parameters: modal, minor-key explorations with subtle but strong grooves, embellished with harp and percussion, evoking the 1960s explorations of Alice Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Johnny Lytle, or small labels like Strata-East to create a listener-friendly, mood-heavy amalgam of all the elements that appealed to the Gilles Peterson/Jazz Cafe crowd. Chip Wickham fits into this paradigm perfectly: he’s assimilated all of the sounds of 1960s modality, so-called ‘spiritual jazz’ and dancefloor grooves, with a dash of classic Brit-jazz, and assembled them into a hip and highly accessible set of tunes that showcase each of his artistic mentors. ‘Tubby Chaser’ evokes the Soho of Mr Hayes, ‘Lower East Side’ presents a NuYorican congas and flute combo, ‘Dark Eyes’ brings on the harp for some sultry exotica and ‘The Hit’ is a rolling 6/8 vamp with a yearning minor key theme. This is an album that wears its influences on its sleeve - the kind of project that stands or falls by its participants’ ability to live up to their inspirations.

Fortunately Wickham’s punchy, robust tenor and clearly articulated flute deliver exactly what’s required, and his band are unfailingly excellent: Ton Risco and Eoin Grace each have memorable contributions and the rhythm team lead by Phil Wilkinson get it right every time. There’s a palpable feeling of sincerity that elevates this above the merely retro.