Hidden is the follow-up to 2011's Yoichi from bassist and composer Nigel Thomas and his collaborators. Thomas is Brighton-based and the album was recorded in a single day – that's the proper spirit of jazz for you – in Hastings. But the first track – which is also the title track – immediately signals that the quartet's ears have ranged beyond the English South Coast in their search for inspirations and influences. Mark Edwards' muscular piano clusters have a McCoy Tyner-ish feel here, as have the dense rhythmic swirls and trills of ‘Dark Light’, although on the latter cut Edwards has moved to the keyboard. Paul Booth proves himself a highly adept and versatile reedsman on the ballad ‘Another World’ and the tricksy bop evolutions of ‘What the Butler Saw’. Thomas and drummer Winston Clifford make a fine, inventive backline and Thomas's compositions sparkle – ‘Cliché’ is precisely the opposite of what its title suggests. The covers are well chosen too: Steve Swallow's ‘Falling Grace’ and Coleman Hawkins's ‘Bird of Prey Blues’, the latter bringing this accomplished set to a dynamic close.