Vocalist Alya Al-Sultani may currently have a relatively low profile on the UK jazz scene, but this new project Collective X should change that. As the personnel shows it is really a supergroup, drawing together several key figures on the British and European scenes to make music that seeks to combine composition and improvisation in a wide range of idiomatic spaces. Which means that the repertoire veers from abstract funk to tough hip hop to rugged blues, providing a platform for some strong socio-political statements from Al-Sultani, who speaks about anything from ‘honour killings’ to identity issues. Produced by Orphy Robinson, Collective X has moments of brilliance, as one would expect given the calibre of the players, yet the writing isn’t quite as cogent or consistent as it is on Al-Sultani’s previous work. There are highlights in the first offering, but above all there is the promise of something significant to come once the group is further down its evolutionary road.