Live at Riverhouse Pumpkin****

Speake, a unique, subtle altoist who counts Konitz and the Colemans, Ornette and Steve, as influences, is an outside-the-box thinker, but he has addressed standards before, memorably on 2007's Generationswith this Barry Green-Dave Green-Jeff Williams rhythm section. They come close to that level with another batch of music of the ancients. Subversion is not the aim, although there's a gentle send-up in their fun romp through I Love You; the approach of an exceptional group of uncategorisable players is to treat things as serious vehicles for improvisation. It yields some unlikely gems in the gravely eloquent mix of rubato freedom and easy swing that illuminates Strangers in the Night, in a euphorically grooving When You're Smilingand the elegant jostling of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Throughout, Speake is a marvel of quiet originality and lyrical lucidity. See martinspeake.co.uk