The Oxley-Meier combo remains among the most fruitful in British jazz. Their styles contrast: Oxley is sweepingly melodic, tinged with Metheny (although he rightly asserts that he developed his voicings independently), Meier is lush, often delving into Turkish, Baltic and middle eastern tones. Yet their vision is unified.

Mercurial Indigo follows the pattern of previous releases, which is not to say they are predictable. The very range of guitars they employ keeps the surprise coming. Oxley moves from 12 string electric to sitar guitar on the shimmering ‘The Silver Surface of the Sea’ or adds classically clean single string lines to ‘The Surging Waves’. Elsewhere, Meier is very at home on nylon stringed acoustics (especially evocative on ‘Spice Bazaar’ but revels (but never indulges) in the deep bends and swerves of the glissentar on the west meets Turkey vibe of the aptly named ‘Crossroads’.

Many speak of cultural cross-fertilisation, and it's interesting to compare Mercurial Indigo with, for example, the current Béla Fleck/Zakir Hussain project (reviewed on page 38). But in a way with Oxley and Meier there is simply one culture: music is the beat we can all move to, the universal language with which people can talk unto people.