All is well with the world. Dave O’Higgins is back and swinging in partnership with old pals. Pandemics may come and (hopefully) go, but the Harvey O’Higgins Project mainlines all the eternal values of great tone, melodic sweetness, rhythmic assurance and swing to blow your socks off. O’Higgins may be the more obvious star name of the combo, but there’s a reason Graham Harvey’s name comes first. It’s very much his harmonic phrasing, and notably tasteful fit with O’Higgins that subtly drives the project.

As the core of the band are used to backing Stacey Kent, you can feel their sense of how to bring the best from a song, how to support and blend with that voice up front, be it a vocalist or O’Higgins’ singing sax. Half the material is standards, including a bop chase on Bird’s ‘Segment’, a showcase for Morrison that contrasts with the breathy ballad ‘More than you Know’, replete with a gorgeous solo intro from the tenor man. But it is to the band’s credit that their own material interweaves seamlessly with the more classic fare. So O’Higgins’ ‘Tropical Paradise’ has a touch of Caribbean lilt, Rollins style, in contrast to his straight ahead blues, ‘Stir Crazy’, which must say it all for how many musicians have experienced the last 18 months. Harvey contributes the title track: rich, up beat but tempered with experience. Fashionable? No way. Timeless? Absolutely. That’s the way to live.