As Hastings tells it, this co-led jazz quintet had a short life, but a musically merry one. So a recording seemed appropriate. Once done, it had lain forgotten until a cassette tape emerged from Hastings' garage recently and even better, the original producer found a version on DAT. This is the result and hugely worthwhile it is. With its programme of pieces by Lee, Horler and Hastings, it's easy to understand both Hastings' renewed enthusiasm and his recall that these clever players were having ‘a lot of fun’.

The accent here is on originality, concepts are tried, they come off, and something else is attempted and so on. Far from a routine blowing session, this is all about varied structures, interesting voicings, rhythmic variety and the attainment of something distinctive. Each piece intrigues, Hastings' clarinet leading the rather pretty ‘Caress’ before composer Horler opens up, as he also does on Lee's intricate ‘Dawn Trader’. On ‘Comet’s Tale’, it is clarinet voiced with guitar initially over stop-time rhythm, as Clyne takes over, and Hastings finishes with flute. Every track an adventure, you could say.

‘Solid Silver’, the longest of the eight tracks at 10 minutes-plus, has soprano on top, with Horler, as ever, soloing rewardingly before Lee and then Hastings, sinuous on soprano, insert their own thoughts. Then again, there's ‘Song Without Words’, flute and guitar foremost at ballad tempo. Hard to categorise perhaps, and difficult to fit into any time-worn category, but superbly achieved, this is a welcome glimpse of these off-duty session regulars ‘having fun’ and doing it damn well.