LAST Wednesday's Dublin Jazz Society concert featured, in veterans Roy Williams and George Masso, two of the best mainstream trombonists. It produced no surprises; with musicians of this calibre, quality is a given.

It was good, after some recent DJS concerts with ad hoc rhythm sections, to see the Jim Doherty-Dave Fleming-John Wadham unit - probably the best here for this kind of music - back and in excellent form. As for the repertoire, Williams and Masso, like the trio, simply delved into the Great American Songbook for an evening of the familiar put over with consummate craftsmanship.

That meant material like It Could Happen To You, A Beautiful Friendship, Stella By Starlight, with the contiguous styles of Masso, slightly the more robust, and Williams, more fluent and agile, having just enough contrast to be distinctive.

The concert was full of savoury moments: the effortless trombone lead changing on such as My Romance and It Might As Well Be Spring (done as a bossa); the beautifully organised coda on Stairway To The Stars; the logic and cohesion of the brief piano solo on My Romance; the piano support for Williams's feature on I'm Old Fashioned; the fours and twos between trombones and drums on Tea For Two;. and the duet for Masso and Doherty on Nobody Else But Me. There was even an absorbing 12-bar, Mass O' Blues, written by Doherty for the occasion, with an exhilarating groove and superior solos all round, especially by Williams and the composer.