I think Kit Downes did himself no harm at all relocating from London to Berlin about a decade ago; he has since become one of very few British jazz musicians in recent generations to have earned a highly credible international reputation not only as a singular pianist/keyboardist/organist, but as a consistently high quality multi-project contemporary jazz leader and collaborator.

More evidence arrives with a new release, Dr Snap, recorded live in 2022 at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, a prestigious European concert venue that commissioned the material as a part of Bimhuis Productions’ ‘Reflex’ series.

Downes’ striking writing and arrangements are typically stimulating and inventive, and never looking to obfuscate the listener. The band sounds in high spirits, including the tenor saxophonist Robin Fincker, another ex-Loop Collective jazz artist who has grown artistically since moving base to mainland Europe, in his case returning to his native France. A Tom Challenger composition ‘Full Dress’ shows Downes’ gift of artfully merging the rhythmically unpredictable with highly engaging storyline melodies; ‘Mirror’ sounds something like a Stravinsky composition for woodwind ensemble remodelled for the 21st century; ‘Familiar’ has a Loose Tubes-ish theme and robust soloing with Petter Eldh and James Maddren, the pianist’s partners in trio Enemy, laying down a taut hiphop-inspired bass/drums combo.

Titles are meaningfully balanced between smaller chamber and larger group settings, boundaries blurred between improv and composition, and the stylistic net gradually widens from avant-funk to experimental New Music through to electronica but always organically serving the whole. Another Kit Downes recording that demands your attention.