The eight albums by Bruno Heinen, the composer, improviser and Trinity Laban Conservatoire piano professor, have included variations on nursery rhymes, a jazz remake of Karlheinz Stockhausen's ‘Tierkreis’, and dedications to Bill Evans and David Bowie – sure signs of an appetite for the unexpected that often extends to the way his bands operate in real time.

Out of Doors, a vehicle for his trio with long-time bassist Andrea Di Biase and fiery expat American drummer Gene Calderazzo, is an eight-part suite originally spurred by the eight songs Bela Bartók used in the 1920 composition Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs Op.20.

The trio gradually build the circling three-note meditation of the opening ‘What Happens Now?’ to a pumping anthem, and Calderazzo's talkative tom-toms preface the impassive, exerciselike ascents and descents of ‘Devil's Ditty’ before hurtling free-jamming breaks out. Di Biase's arco bass brings a dark shiver to ‘Fool in the Grave’ before its strutty climax, ‘The Wave’ is first a tattoo, then an impressionistic trickle, then a driving hook, ‘Look Before You Leap’ (with Heinen on Fender Rhodes) is snappily funky, and the closing ‘Homecoming’ lets the repeating bass figure and Calderazzo's forceful drums buildup do the work as its catchily looping chord-theme swells and fades. Heinen's exciting trio was scheduled for a spring tour with this music – one day, it'll be great to hear it live.