Some of the musicians on Tuesday night’s bill had quite possibly never met before, let alone played together, which undoubtedly added to the excitement of the music as well as underlining Hyman’s skills.

Mind you, with the likes of Alan Barnes (saxes and clarinet), Dave Green (bass) and John Allred (trombone) in his septet, Hyman had at his disposal some superb players, several of whom looked as if they were getting a real kick out of ­playing such rarely performed numbers as a thrilling Dooji Wooji. (Hyman revealed that he’d once asked the bass player Milt Hinton what this meant, only to be told: “Better you not know.”)

Alan Barnes must sometimes rue the fact that he’s so versatile because it often means he does back-to-back shifts on the bandstand. Tuesday night was no ­exception: his turn as a European All-Star followed hot on the heels of his first guest appearance with the Classic Jazz Orchestra.

Their programme of Benny Carter music might have benefited from an interval but it was a treat nevertheless to hear this top-class band dish up such cracking numbers as Symphony in Riffs from the 1930s and Katy-Do from Carter’s Kansas City Suite. Barnes’s superb work on alto (on the latter tune especially) was the icing on the cake.

The Hub

Alison Kerr

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