Plenty of hitherto unreleased sessions from jazz clubs, such as this one from the University of Alberta, team a well-known soloist with a local rhythm section – in this case baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams with the trio of Edmonton-based pianist Tommy Banks. But it can be a bit of a lottery as to how good the results are. In this case, Adams was on magnificent form, ideas tumbling from his horn in profusion, even on tracks that in other hands would be far, far too long. A headlong dash through ‘Oleo’ lasts some 19 minutes, yet there’s little repetition and Adams pulls piano, bass and drums along in the wake of his invention (and occasional niftily worked-in quote).

He sets the scene for the evening’s musical formula with a formidable solo on the opening ‘Three and One’, and he follows this with a couple of originals that were never otherwise captured in live performance. ‘Civilization and Its Discontents’ starts moodily and introspectively against a background texture of tremolos and movement from the trio, who then rein everything in to provide an excellent, understated ballad accompaniment. The uptempo original ‘Patrice’ is catchy, and shows Pepper’s ideal blend between composer and player.

But the highlight here for me is one of the bonus tracks, which only appears on the digital and CD issues. It’s a surprisingly brisk workout on “Time on My Hands’ that wraps all the main features of this US/Canadian collaboration into a single effective summary.