Finn Carter is much in demand as a sideman for a lot of very prominent contemporary acts whose names never feature in these pages – Loyle Carner, Olivia Dean and Rex Orange County have all employed his talents up on the big stages. This is his first solo release and it’s terrific. The compositions are all by Finn and are very much in the contemporary jazz idiom - there’s plenty of off-kilter ostinatos, non-functional harmony, and nary a II-V-I to be heard, but Finn still has an ear for melody and an ability to leave space and build mood. ‘Nepotism’ demonstrates all these qualities, with a furious odd-number meter providing a framework across which he drapes Meldhau-style two-handed independence, plangent minor chords and gestural bass rumbles while still leaving plenty of room for Kaidi Akinnibi’s fleet soprano sax.

Joe McLaren and Morgan Simpson sound great as well, supportive and sensitive or blazing as required. The crisp recording captures the warm, precisely articulated piano sound and the beautifully centred tone and light-as-air phrasing of the all-too-rarely heard Akinnibi.

The music sometimes veers towards a portentous solemnity but it’s offset by the enthusiasm and chutzpah of the delivery, with audible whoops of joy from the band at peak moments. Compelling.