Irish flautist Brian Dunning is an astonishing virtuoso. He has a hard, commanding sound and darts around his instrument with ease and elegance. Though playing jazz, he brings a subtle traditional-Irish inflection that can make a Chick Corea ballad sound like a slow air. And yet in this concert his performance didn't quite work.

Dunning was backed by a tight, responsive trio - Phil Ware (keyboards), Daniel Bodwell (bass) and Peter Ainscough (drums) - but he sounded out of place. The best improvised solos have a constant sense of the unexpected, where you sense the musician himself isn't entirely sure where he's going.

Dunning never generated that feeling. His solos had the carefully rehearsed feel of classical cadenzas. They were technically brilliant, but contained no surprises.

The point was really brought home by the contrast between his solos and those of Philip Ware. Ware approached each tune differently and kept throwing out new ideas, whereas Dunning's sounded interchangeable. Although he occasionally produced a tin whistle, and at one point even played the pan-pipes, the musical approach didn't change.

Dunning was at his best in the early part of the evening, playing an attractive, melismatic solo during Keith Jarrett's Lucky Southern. However, as the concert went on it all became increasingly formulaic.