From the very opening upbeat to Alan Brandt and Bob Haymes's terrific ‘That's All’, recorded by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and a host of others, this self-titled album from The Loire Allstars is outstandingly good on all fronts. Growing out of musical relationships forged over a decade of tutoring at the Loire Jazz Summer School, the quintet's artistry and ineffable sense of connection shines through every bar. The skip-proof track list features everything from Djavan's mid-1970s hit ‘Flor de Lis’ to Cole Porter's ‘I Love You’, a song that, incidentally, celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2014 (one for this year's Jazz Voice perhaps?). First recorded by its composer Abbey Lincoln on A Turtle's Dream (1994) and already heading for standard status, Anita Wardell is at her most captivating on ‘Throw It Away’. Taken from Joe Henderson's classic 1963 Blue Note debut Page One, the purely instrumental ‘Jinrikisha’ brings this hugely enjoyable set to a stirring close