As part of the South Bank's Rhythm Sticks festival, the BBC Big Band laid on this action-packed two-part programme featuring the talents of two wildly contrasting percussionists.

The venerable Ed Thigpen can cite a list of performing credits with some of the classic names of jazz, from Ella Fitzgerald to Oscar Peterson. In the second half, super-sticksman Billy Cobham seized centre stage for a display of the thermonuclear technique that transformed jazz-fusion in the 70s.

But the Big Band were never overshadowed by their stellar guests, and indeed it has become a mark of their collective expertise that they're able to fit in comfortably with interlopers from virtually any musical background.

Thigpen is sticksman and also entertainer, wisecracking with the band and laying on fancy exhibitions of brush technique, hands-on tomtom playing and even a smattering of scat singing. However, he was at his best when he did the fundamental things without fuss. With a whip of the wrist or a turn of the shoulder he could slip easily into a samba or bossa nova. When the band were roaring full blast through a suite of Duke Ellington pieces, Ed was right with them, stoking the beat with a minimum of effort.

Billy Cobham's set was based around his new recording "concept" which is apparently designed to give musicians the opportunity to play along with a virtual jazz orchestra.

In the flesh, Cobham, positioned behind his huge honey-coloured Yamaha kit, stormed through a batch of pieces which took full advantage of the band's dazzling array of colours, from trumpets and saxophones to vibes and beefy electric guitar. Cobham buffs will have recognised Stratus and Crosswinds, although not in these arrangements, while the new piece Conundrum zigzagged from riotous chords to passages of eerie calm. Cobham's drum solo suffered only mildly from superstar bombast. Tragically, the hall was far from full.