Ever since drummer Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg first founded the Instant Composers Pool in 1967, the Dutch free- improv collective has distinguished itself from British or German contemporaries by avoiding strict adherence to non-idiomatic forms of expression. For Bennick et al, it was always just fine to include snippets of swing, blues, foxtrot, pop or whatever took their fancy – all peppered with an irrepressible, Fluxus-inspired sense of the absurd. Sure enough, this latest from the ICP’s flagship ensemble features nostalgic, Big-ish Band arrangements of compositions by Monk, Herbie Nichols and the now largely-retired Mengelberg, pushed along by the effervescent swing and bounce of the still very much active Bennink at the kit. Yet, no matter how self-consciously silly some of it sounds, there’s always a strong avant-garde aesthetic at work, with intermingled episodes of abstract, stuttering improvisation, and slithering tone poems with ghostly, operatic vocals. It’s all done with just enough humour, affection and intelligence to make it work wonderfully well.