In the aftermath of my disaffection for the Olympics opening ceremony I found myself asking what the Jazz Festival was for.  I'd bought tickets for ten gigs and of course I can't blame anyone else for what I'd picked but it did seem pretty much the same old.

Now I like a sentimental tune and a foot-stomping melody and a Latin rhythm and a bit of modern as well as the next man.  But doesn't a festival have some responsibility to look forward as well as back?

Only at my tenth and final gig did the festival really come alive for me.  This was a band of high energy, high octane brilliance that took us off into a thrillingly different soundscape.  There was a clear debt to mimimalism in some of the work, a great sense of humour and a parallel to the interactive audience daftness at St Andrews.  The audience were instructed to start talking after the bass and drums had got a few minutes through a slow peaceful number.

You can get a bit of an idea of their music from this youtube video but it's no substitute for a live performance.   I hope to come across Marcin Masecki Profesjonalizm again.

As an addendum note that although you see them with sheet music in front of them in the video they played yesterday almost without stopping for an hour and a half with no such aid.