Timing is everything in jazz, and not just during performances. As the quartet led by saxophonist Martin Speake and pianist Nikki Iles embarks on a long tour of the UK, it is in danger of being sidelined by a slew of starrier jazz acts with the same idea. But it will be an injustice if this responsive, resourceful and thematically original ensemble doesn't get the audiences it should.
Speake is not the kind of player to blow the audience into the street, but he generates excitement and expectation with his contrasts between the reticent and the inflamed, and his knack for melodic deviousness. And Iles is a skilful improviser, although this is often eclipsed by her responsibilities to larger ensembles or the intricacies of her own bigger-scale compositions. But at London's Vortex on the opening show of a 14-date tour, Iles displayed all the rhythmic surprises, shape-shifting phrases, playful dialogue with partners and mix of ruggedness and reflection that at times make her comparable to the great John Taylor.
This is a band created for an occasion. But Speake and Iles are old collaborators, and Canadians Duncan Hopkins (bass) and Anthony Michelli (drums) share the same kind of understanding, strength and flexibility, which in turn bring out the best in Speake and Iles. Iles's themes favour slow and piquant meditative melodies in suspended tempo, picking up momentum into swing or skewed Latin pulses as they open out into solos.
This happened to the spacious, stealthy theme The Heron, with Speake's swooping alto break over rustling cymbals, before Iles smuggled in some Chick Corea-like chords. Duncan Hopkins's bop feature mixed the Cool School's long lines and muttering dynamic narrowness with bumpy, Thelonious Monk-like variations.
Speake delivered one of his most audacious solos on The Thrill Is Gone, and an Iles tune that shifted from a drifting luminescence into a dark, boogying left-hand melody line brought crackling responses. This is jazz-jazz, not fusion, and there's no electronic enhancement, unless you count microphones. But it's acoustic quartet playing a very long way up the league.
• The Martin Speake/Nikki Iles group play the Jazz Club, Ascot (01344 878101) tomorrow afternoon, Colchester Arts Centre (01206 500 900) tomorrow evening, Central Bar, London EC1 (020 7490 0080), on Tuesday, then tour.
