Then there was the one about the group that goes under a well-known comedian�s name and features an Irishman to look out for.

Star rating ****

Then there was the one about the group that goes under a well-known comedian's name and features an Irishman to look out for. Dave Allen isn't a comedian or the Irishman in question. He's a New York-based guitarist who's managed the tricky accomplishment of finding his own voice on an instrument that's already heavily subscribed.

Neither a heavy hitter nor a speed merchant - yet he can go with a fast, lucid flow when the occasion demands - Allen has forged an improvising style that favours equal parts melodic and harmonic progressions and leaves lots of room for his colleagues to contribute to the music's overall shape. And this is where the aforesaid Irishman, drummer David Lyttle, comes in.

Belfast-born Lyttle returns to the Jazz Bar with his own trio next month and his playing here provided an ideal trailer. He drums with such discretion and awareness, adding quietly emphatic rim-shot propulsion to Allen and double bassist Carlo DeRosa's team work and allowing the music to breathe with a tonal sense that's as refreshing as it is creative.

Allen's compositions seem tailor-made for such a stylist. He's influenced more by poets and painters these days than by other guitarists, although the flinty lyricism of John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny can still be detected at times. Musing, with its very deliberate, drawn-out arpeggios and the "see your breath in the air" atmosphere of Spring Snow, were as descriptive in their own ways as words and colours, but those looking for more direct, vigorous communication would also have found plenty to savour in Out of the Trap's compelling swagger.