Brandon Sanders’ grandmother ran a jazz club in Kansas City, and although he grew up in LA, studied at Berklee and has been based in NYC for many years, his musicality is thoroughly grounded in the old-school jazz verities as represented by the kind of artists granny would feature - Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, and the like.

The opening track on this collection is a midtempo minor blues that could have been lifted directly from a 1960s session by someone like Sonny Clark. The choice of a vibes/sax frontline mellows things down a bit so that a vigorous rendition of ‘Moose The Mooche’ has a smooth West Coast feel despite tenor man Chris Lewis’ earthier excursions - there’s even a walking bass solo, and Sander’s own drumming is a model of old-school restraint. The music here is so thoroughly wedded to the tradition that the incursion of contemporary pop in the form of a vocal version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Human Nature’ is initially jarring, despite the tune’s thorough integration into the standards book over its 40-year history.

The excellent band perform with such commitment and integrity throughout that ultimately it all works. Listening to this album is like dropping into a jazz club in an unknown town and finding the house band firing on all six cylinders – nothing outlandish, just good music played well. Sander’s grandma would surely have booked him without hesitation.