Steve Williamson Trio
Pizza Express Soho, London

BORN in West London in 1964 of Jamaican parents, Steve Williamson began playing saxophone at 16 and blew reggae with Misty in Roots before attending the Guildhall School of Music and joining the Jazz Warriors in 1984.

In 1988, he played with Courtney Pine at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday concert at Wembley and in the South African-led bands of Louis Moholo-Moholo and Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath.

The Verve label released his marvellous Waltz for Grace album with Abbey Lincoln in 1990 and Rhyme Time two years later.

Then he became much less prominent for two decades, so it was tremendous to hear him at full pelt in Soho again with two powerful confreres, bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Rod Youngs.

His mercurial spirit shone through the trio's rendition of Thelonius Monk's Evidence, with his breathy tenor saxophone timbre planting the theme deep in jazz earth and his startling improvisation inventing multi-dimensional note-patterns over Bartley's ever-dancing bass and his raw cadences tumbling over Youngs's rattling snares.

He took to soprano saxophone for the songbook ballad What Is This Thing Called Love? and tore into its melody with a Sidney Bechet-like attack, while Youngs used his palms on toms and snares as a gentle underlay.

But true horn glory came with Williamson's very free interpretation of the tenor saxophonist test-piece Body and Soul, a reminder of Pablo Picasso's words: “You start a painting and it becomes something altogether different.”

The same was true of Williamson, as the cusp of the tune became the launching of new, astonishing and unique notes.

It was the signal of true creation and artistry, a beautiful sound.