The thing I want to know, I tell Richard Kass, drummer with jazz outfit Trio HLK, is when you walked into the studio of famed percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie did you feel any sense of, umm, intimidation?

“Ordinarily you would say yes,” Kass says, laughing. “As a drummer growing up I used to watch her videos and was really inspired by some of the stuff she’d done. So, for me it was quite a big deal.

“But she’s such a nice person, such a lovely person. She makes you feel very at ease.”

Ease might not be a word you’d readily associate with HLK Trio. Formed in 2015 and featuring Kass (he’s the K in the name), composer and pianist Rich Harrold and guitarist Ant Tyler, their debut album Standard Time is hard and fast, all polyrhythm and improv. It’s a driving, fidgety thing. Tracks start controlled and restrained before haring off in dizzying directions. Five of them are based on standards (hence the title) but taken and twisted in new directions. The Jig, for example, is based on a Bach cello suite. Not that it’s obvious in the listening. The band break it up and rebuild it in the form of brutalist musical architecture. At moments, I swear, the track sounds like Metallica on a coffee break.

The resulting album is complex and layered and at times pummelling. “It’s certainly not music you can get away with busking,” admits Kass. “We used the phrase ‘on the grid’ a lot. If anybody is not completely ‘on the grid’ then the combination of the parts doesn’t sound very good.”

Right now, Kass is at home in his top floor flat in Edinburgh surrounded by drums, naturally. He’s working on a solo percussion project but this morning he’s just thrilled that Standard Time is almost upon us. Thrilled, too, that he got to work with Dame Evelyn on a couple of its tracks and now has the prospect of playing with her live. The album launch with Dame Evelyn takes place at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh on May 13.

It’s taken Trio HLK three years to get to this point. Standard Time, helped into existence by Creative Scotland and PRS For Music Foundation, is a statement of intent. The album is a chance to do something new with familiar material, deconstructing standards and reinventing them.

Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that Kass admits he grew up listening to hip hop, Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. He is no stranger to the language of sampling when listening or playing.

“We all come from different backgrounds. Rich [Harrold] is classically trained,” Kass points out. “I think we’re all passionate about rhythm, about polyrhythm. Ant has done a lot of music that has some of the language of Indian music. But we’ve certainly grown a lot together by playing the music.”

Collaborators such as saxophonist Steve Lehman who also plays on Standard Time and Dame Evelyn add another level of complexity to the mix.

For Dame Evelyn, working with HLK Trio was a very different kind of collaboration, she says.. But that was both the challenge and the appeal.

“I realised that the trio consists of three utterly amazing musicians. Their musical voice is totally unique. The musical material allows each musician to show their individual identity and yet merge as the brilliant trio they are.

“They are all about the music, the journey of a piece, creating suspense, surprise, sparseness, density, twists and turns. Their music, in my opinion, is timeless and cannot really be categorised.”

That does suggest you had to be on your toes in the studio Dame Evelyn? “You have to be on toes for any recording session,” she points out. “We worked hard, we knew what had to be achieve and that was that.”

And, she adds, “a cup of tea and biscuits galore” helped when they needed to decompress.

Standard Time is a thing of swaggering confidence and another reminder, if it’s needed, at the strength of the UK jazz scene at the moment.

“I think it’s super healthy,” agrees Kass. “Even here in Edinburgh there are some great nights.”

It’s a pity then that live venues keep closing in the city. Klass is gutted that the Leith Depot is currently under threat.

But, he says, jazz will find a way. “The thing that Edinburgh’s got, like Glasgow, is there are a lot of people who are quite passionate about putting on music. The late Bill Kyle was just amazing at getting things up and running and that’s been continued since he passed away at The Jazz Bar by his daughter Edith and the family. They’ve kept it going.

“They’re always bringing interesting music up. So, yeah, whilst I think it’s a challenge there are still venues putting it on and people who are interested in going to see it.”

Trio HLK’s debut album Standard Time is released on May 11 on Ubuntu Music. HLK Trio and Dame Evelyn Glennie play the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on May 13.