Walking on in an unhurried fashion with a handbag securely intact under her left shoulder, sheets of music ready in the other, wearing a smart tight short plain black dress equipped with a gorgeous array of red frizzy flowing flamboyant locks, the calm pianist, composer and arranger Janette Mason took to the stage with her trio at the Hideaway jazz and comedy club in Streatham.

Beginning with an original blues, ‘The Blues Walked Out’, which consisted of an agitated opening, enabled the trio to tease us into their set. Playing mostly material from Mason’s latest album Alien Left Hand, which was nominated for a Parliamentary Award earlier this year, the trio also featuring bassist Dudley Phillips and Pat Levett on drums, continued their set with Mason’s solid arrangement of the Eurhythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams.’

Mason’s left hand churned out a strong ostinato bass line igniting this energised-funk momentum that seemed to propel power throughout the arrangement as well as during the rest of the evening. However, when the music seemed to gently unravel itself as in ‘Dominatrix’, (don’t get too excited, the name refers to the fact that the piece is a playground for dominant chords), tentative meandering improvisatory notions transported the music from this funk-based sturdy groove to a looser more sparse freer music.

The versatility of Mason’s compositional ability shone through when the not yet recorded ‘Way Ahead’ was performed. The piece which is a result of Mason tuning in her radio when she was 15 and accidentally discovering Pat Metheny, consisted of a rather beautiful full-bodied resonance that added great contrast to the set. Now for a real surprise; pianist Andrea Vicari, who books the Wednesday night gigs at the Hideaway, was in the audience. Janette easily persuaded her up on stage and Vicari’s solid style swung seriously hard securely biting into the rhythm section playing the standard Blue Monk. The audience witnessed all of the musicians clearly enjoying themselves. Janette and Andrea politely took it in turns to trade fours by giving each other room at the piano stool and giggling like school girls before the exciting number came to a close all too soon. The evening ended with ‘Din And Tonic’, the title track from Mason’s debut album, a piece with a feisty attitude that enabled one last thrust of energy to send us into the night.

– Charlotte Keeffe