The young Bordeaux-raised vibraphonist Alexis Valet was good enough soon after his student years to recruit European jazz stars like guitarist Romain Pilon, flautist Magic Malik and keyboardist Bojan Z to play on his early albums.

Those waves had barely settled by the time he took a leap further with Following the Sun, recorded with a fine New York line-up including sophisticated pianist Aaron Parks and Cool-to-Coltrane saxophonist Dayna Stephens - the encounter being triggered by the Frenchman’s snap decision in 2022 to hop on a plane to the States without funding or a plan, and try playing with whoever he met.

Classic American hard bop clearly influences Valet, but mainly in the distinctive ways he uses his bop-harmony awareness to avoid the method’s cliches. The opening ‘Ups and Downs’ develops a coolly purring theme over a quiet bass hook and gentle piano chording, but the song’s expected resolutions are deflected by clusters of notes that startlingly delay its close - an approach for which Stephens and Parks, with their affinity for long, undulating improv lines, could hardly be better suited.

The yearning tenor theme of ‘Dreams of Integrity’ brings a vibes solo addressing rhythm as much as harmony, and the fast swing pulse that follows the title track’s dreamy intro highlights how shapely Valet’s improvisations are even on the fastest swing. ‘Cypher’ and ‘Lekeitio’ - the first a smoky sax melody over a bass vamp, the second a ballad theme on a ticking Latin groove - bring graceful, floating solos from Stephens and Parks, while Valet saves one of his most exhilaratingly surefooted sprints for the finale, on the spikily boppish ‘Myrtle’. This is elegant, occasionally languorous music, but Valet’s significant arrival on jazz’s world stage is unmistakeable.