The Sons D’Hiver festival in Paris has been an important platform for improvising artists all over the world for many years, and this concert recording of a stellar international group is something of a calling card for the event.

French double bassist Léandre and two Americans, pianist Taborn and viola player Maneri, are all bandleader-composers with long, rich individual discographies stretching back to the 1980s and 90s. They form a unit that has the conversational intimacy of a trio, as well as the rousing energy of a larger ensemble. This is due to the faultless control and wide range of texture and volume. At times Taborn plays so delicately, his keyboard is like a gentle stream amid the heavier rivers produced by his partners. Léandre has a big, brash tone, and when she uses the bow she often creates dramatic low end exclamations that gel powerfully with Maneri’s equally hard attack on viola, which evokes a grainy country blues as well as silken chamber feel.

Spontaneously composed, the pieces are potently concise, with deep historical roots that are not used with any complacency. ‘E’ is a fine example of subversive swing, as the teasingly playful seesaw rhythm is somehow as fragmented as it is fluent. Another strong release on the Rogueart label, whose fine catalogue keeps growing in stature.