Xhosa Cole Quartet

It's an alien experience, listening to the music of Thelonius Monk without a piano, but also a joyous one. Xhosa Cole and his band presented Monk's racing tempos and virtuosic melodies in a whole new sound palette, encouraging the audience to hear these familiar tracks entirely afresh.

To say Cole is a generous player is an understatement. The evening started with the sound of his saxophone front and centre, but then he quickly retreated to the sidelines, literally prowling the edge of the stage as he turned the spotlight onto his bandmates. Josh Vadiveloo on double bass seemed to have a near telepathic connection to Nathan England-Jones on drums, accelerating and depressing tempos together as if they were one player. Steve Saunders dazzled on the guitar with lyrical solos that felt pulled from the heart.

This may be a symptom of my age, but my overriding impression of the band was one of youth. All in their 20s, they looked every inch the college quartet, dressed casually in track suits bottoms, chinos, T-shirts and trainers, the vibe was so relaxed we could have been in a university common room. Their cheeky, chilled banter was utterly charming, and although he didn't speak much, Xhosa built an immediate rapport with the audience, reminding us of the three highest compliments an audience can make to a jazz band: make noise, dance, and buy the CD!

The youth-o-meter nearly snapped when Xhosa introduced two of his students to the stage (Luke Purbrick on guitar and Mejedi Owusu, both studying at Trinity, both brilliant and earning rapturous applause). With his typical generosity he described himself not as their teacher but their co-learner, and for me that summed up everything about his playing style. Open hearted, thoughtful and on a journey of discovery with whomever he's playing. When Carmen MacRae celebrated the music of Thelonius Monk, there was a sassy, edgy, aloof attitude to her interpretations that matched the prickly personality her audiences had grown to love. Xhosa Cole has managed to find a completely new character in Monk's music, a character that's welcoming, warm and creating a space where everyone's invited.