Tomasz Stańko Quintet, QEH

There’s something of a Polish theme to the London Jazz Festival 2009, part of the “Polska! year” celebration of that nation’s art and culture. Trumpeter Tomasz Stańko is by some margin the strand’s biggest name. The man who once explained the mournful, meditative tone of his (and his country’s) music in terms of the “melancholy light” he’d known since birth took to the stage in appropriately sombre attire: suit, shirt and hat alike in any colour as long as it was black.

Much of the playing was similarly noirish, in keeping with both the moody shadows of Stańko’s current publicity shots and the title of his new album on the ECM label: Dark Eyes. Yet that album also mines an edgier and – at least for him – exuberant seam, and this sense too was evident in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the haunting, filmic playing punctuated by sudden explosions of energy.

This was thanks in no small part to his new Nordic quintet, hailing from an area of the world Stańko regards as sharing that same “melancholy light” and which certainly shares Poland’s ability to create a model of jazz indebted to, but distinct from, the African-American tradition. Swing rhythms were implicit at best and there was no post-solo applause, while folk and classical music (rather than blues) served as prime source material. Indeed, the music seemed far more linear than the predictably circular, head-solos-head template so beloved of the jazz mainstream, perhaps a hangover from Stańko’s soundtrack work.

Featuring electric bass and guitar alongside piano and drums, the group boasted a propulsive zest in its collective arsenal alongside an aptitude for more contemplative explorations. Drummer Olavi Louhivuori was particularly strong in this context, exploring the full dynamic range from softly bowed cymbals to kinetic, muscular beats. Guitarist Jakob Bro impressed too, avoiding both rockist axe-heroics and the semi-muted, smooth tones of much guitar jazz. His restrained, sustained playing instead owed something to Bill Frisell, though he deserves credit as a voice in his own right, not least for his highly imaginative employment of the much-abused and now near-ubiquitous loop pedal.

Yet, despite now being in his late 60s, plenty of the momentum came from Stańko himself, driven to fast-fingered runs and even shrieking overtones as well as nuanced, understated atmospherics. With the threat of such mood changes helping to steer the group well clear of the security, and consequent blandness, that can mar the most tasteful of performances, this was surely among the jazz highlights of the year to date. Exquisite.

The London Jazz Festival continues until 22 November. The Tomasz Stańko Quintet's tour dates are available here.