While still in his teens, the UK saxophonist /composer Tom Smith had already spurred Django Bates, observing his performance on the 2014 BBC’s Young Jazz Musician of the Year final, into calling his music ‘passionate, punchy and joyful’. In 2021, Smith released his sparky sax-trio album Gecko, and now comes A Year In The Life, unveiling a big band that shows just how creatively and quickly this gifted young artist has broadened his already rich musical palette.

The atmospheric work of Maria Schneider, and the music of Carla Bley, Bill Frisell, and Guy Barker, have all added to this mix. The title track here opens with pensive harmonies that accelerate into thumping hooks slashed through by Smith’s whooping sax; ‘Speedboat In Trouble’ snaps and twists as emphatically as an old-school Thad Jones/Mel Lewis classic before skewing into wild free-brass improv excursions; ‘Breathe’ is a slow chord-chime wrapped by deep horn harmonies, emerging into Jamie McCredie’s ringing guitar swoops; while ‘We’re Being Watched’ catapults you out of your seat with it’s raw, blasting opening sequence. The racing brass parts of ‘Aplomb’ and the subsequent alto solo testify to Smith’s deep grasp of bebop, ‘Somewhere Far From Here’ is a churchy slow-burn, and ‘Swansea Uproar’ rocks the show out with blisteringly-riffy swinger. He may not be out of his twenties yet, but the hyper-savvy Tom Smith sounds as if he’s eagerly lived plenty of diverse jazz lives already.