Lisbon has a dynamic avant-garde scene and the capital of Portugal is also beautiful, not to mention relatively cheaper than other European cities. Somewhat inevitably, it attracts musicians from abroad, and US alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher moved there in 2021.

This concert is as good an advert for all of the above as could be hoped for. The band O’Gallagher leads comprises the excellent local drums and bass team, João Lencastre and Zé Almeida, as well as German pianist Samuel Gapp and they stand very much in the tradition of an intuitive, disciplined acoustic quartet that plays material which is harmonically detailed, if not dense as well as rhythmically loose and pliable.

A piece such as ‘Quixotica’, arguably the highlight of the set, has precisely the shifting sands character that makes much of the ability of the piano and reed to create aggressive, agitated flurries that eventually fall and float into stillness while the percussion supports the movements with tight punctuations on snare and cymbal which reinforce the impression of a flame that flickers rather than rages. But the fraught, spectral down tempo drift of ‘Practically Speaking’ in which O’Gallagher pushes his horn towards a Lacy-ish soprano vocabulary marks a dramatic change of mood and soundscape that says much about the band’s introspective slant.

Enjoyable, interrogative music from an international combo with a strong character.