Formed in 2005, this debut album for Nette Robinson's Little Big Band, subtly combining the composed and the improvised, is long overdue.

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Paying fulsome homage to the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, the fact that this is an entirely chord-less quintet - no piano, no guitar - results in a sound that's both refreshingly transparent and energising.

Featuring Back to Basie Orchestra's Adrian Fry on trombone, Robinson's husband Tony Woods on various reeds, plus the excellent rhythm section of Will Hyland and Chris Nickolls, the material on The Little Big Band Plays ranges from an extravagantly proportioned "Sophisticated Lady" (check out the four-minute intro), the riffing asides of "Sent For You Yesterday" and a serpentine "Caravan".  

The slightly oblique commentaries by Fry and Woods at times inject proceedings with a little twist of Monk, notably album opener "Take the A Train".  Possessing the smoothest of timbres and the subtlest of vibratos on end notes, Robinson's voice is one that you could never tire of listening to.  Well worth the wait.

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(Jazzwise)