Star rating: **** The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra brought some South American sunshine to a dark and frosty Stirling University campus on Sunday, with the music of three composers highlighting different aspects of the band and its guests, including Italian accordionist Giuliana Soscia.

Star rating: ****

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra brought some South American sunshine to a dark and frosty Stirling University campus on Sunday, with the music of three composers highlighting different aspects of the band and its guests, including Italian accordionist Giuliana Soscia.

Argentinian Astor Piazzolla, the creator of new tango, is the most prominent of these composers and many of his pieces that were featured were already familiar, at least in essence. American arranger Fred Sturm's treatments added heightened senses of humour and drama to Piazzolla's haunting melodies, street scenes and carefully-developed structures and time signature shifts, requiring - and getting - brilliantly attentive, detailed ensemble playing while offering Soscia plenty of opportunity to demonstrate her expressive style. The tender Mumuki, written for Piazzolla's wife Laura, and probably Piazzolla's greatest hit, the highly combustible Libertango were particularly outstanding examples of accordion and orchestra gelling in a set that also included a splendid duet between Soscia and her partner, pianist Pino Iodice, who joined her from the stalls.

After the concentration of the Piazzolla section, Venezuelan Leo Blanco and Brazilian Mario Caribe's new compositions were relatively liberating for the players. Blanco's End of the Amazonia typically married rhythmical detail and intensity with a feelgood melodiousness that inspired a full-blooded and creative exchange between trombonist Chris Greive, trumpeter Ryan Quigley and Tommy Smith on tenor saxophone, and Caribe's Brazilian Scenes, while changing moods from buoyant to reflective to exultant, offered similar scope to a procession of soloists who capitalised eagerly. Caribe's writing is assured and unfailingly attractive, and his presence on bass ensured that this was yet another convincing instance of SNJO's chameleon-like adaptability.