Throughout his lengthy career Sam Rivers had a seemingly inexhaustible reserve of energy and ideas, and his principle of ‘streams’ of melody, often played in darting, agitated lines, set to equally feverish rhythms, lent real marks of distinction to his output.

This session by the longest running trio Rivers ever led (1993-2006) is no different, and moves from lengthy improvisations to shorter compositions with great discipline. And this is arguably one of the most versatile trios you’ve probably never heard of.

There are many bands of multi-instrumentalists but in this one everybody plays a horn, thus making the rhythm section effectively morph into a reed section. Rivers had a great ability to be as funky as free but he also wrote some sublime love songs, none more so than his alternative standard ‘Beatrice’, a perennial fan favourite that the group performs with exactly the right blend of tenderness and passion.