Although bassist Christian McBride has distinguished himself in a range of settings that include anything from horns to electronics, there is a school of thought that says the optimal context for him may well be the acoustic trio. First and foremost this clear, distilled setting showcases the beauty of his sound, whose tonal richness is matched by an unrelenting dynamism both in terms of comping and soloing. Yet if McBride, a ‘young veteran’ at 43, is the leader here his two callow sidemen, pianist Sands and drummer Owens Jnr, are by no means makeweights, and while for the most part the trio operates in straightahead territory there is a wide stylistic range covered, above all in the more daring harmonic avenues opened up in some of the arrangements. Reprises of songs by Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley and Billie Holiday, not to mention a dizzying ‘Cherokee’, highlight a command of both swing and balladry, but it is the intensely lyrical, if not haunting take on Michael Jackson's ‘The Lady In My Life’, where understatement and breathing space are used to full effect, that is a stand-out moment. In keeping with McBride's inherent funkiness the set ends with a righteous romp through Rose Royce's ‘Car Wash,’ in which the border between blues and gospel is crossed in a land called unplugged disco-soul. The audience likes to go there.