Writing happy music isn't that novel, but it's a darn sight harder than it looks. Jurd's fourth solo outing, The Big Friendly Album is just that, in that it is rich with joyous melody, feel good rhythms that often grow from New Orleans street stylings and a dash of (primarily Scottish) folk traditions. That brass front line is partly influenced by Lester Bowie and his feel for mixing jazz with popular song, but there are also echoes of when Mike and Kate Westbrook took their brass band to the streets, while Django Bates’ and Loose Tubes’ sense of communal spontaneity is much to the fore. Indeed, Mark Lockheart brings a singing soprano to ‘Houseplant’, a nod to his band Perfect Houseplants, who were so influential on the young Jurd.

The ‘guests’ are a potent ingredient, never ‘just’ decoration. Finn's flute lifts the Django-esque ‘Fuzzy’ while Haltli's accordion brings a nordic noir to ‘Passing Clouds’ and an edge to the mildly psychotic sense of ‘Sleepless’. Jurd keeps her cornet playing controlled, no showboating here, although she turns to trumpet for a bravura flourish on ‘Here the Tale Ends’.

Overall, The Big Friendly Album wears its artfulness lightly, but there's a sense of detail, a deft handling of time changes and harmonic weavings that may not get noticed beneath the sweeping arc of its tunefulness. It's big, it's friendly but it's also fabulously constructed. Buy and be friendly.