There was a time, many years ago, when jazz reluctantly relinquished its once unassailable position from being the popular music of the day to a secondary role. It may have lost its grip as things invariably changed but the jazz spirit continued to lurk in the shadows still influencing mainstream radio friendly pop music as rock took over the top slot. In truth jazz wasn't killed off neither, according to Zappa, did it smell bad! Over the last two decades attempts (mainly Stateside) to create a hip hop jazz hybrid have met with a lot of blind alleys and only a modicum of success. However, a quartet of North London artists known collectively as 4Hero have made adventurous strides in the right direction. One of their number Marc Mac, has created what could well prove to be a partial breakthrough with his aptly named Visoneers. Though a Rhodes piano, wah-wah guitars and shimmering strings give some tracks (‘Jungle Green Outlines’) a cinematic 1970s flavour, it is a signpost to future games that involves a mash-up of jungle, drum ’n’ bass, techno, spoken word and hip hop all liberally flavoured with a heartfelt jazz sensibility. It's a complex workin- progress canvas in which Mac plays almost every thing in earshot interspersed with spoken breaks. and a harbinger of exciting things yet to come.