Back To The Cat is a riotous brass-backed subversion of classic jazz, soul, funk, gospel and blues from the last 50 years. Born out of his curatorship of the London Jazz Festival last year and book-ended by the heady big-band jazz of ‘The Beaten Side of Town’ and ‘Psycho_Sexual’, Adamson delivers an album that sounds strangely familiar, yet refreshingly new.

‘Straight ‘Til Sunrise’ sounds like a late-1960s Bacharach swinger – until police sirens suggest that the narrator is fleeing a murder scene. ‘Civilization’ is a heady gospel lament from the incarcerated Prince of Darkness and ‘Spend a Little Time’ comes across like a darker Elvis in his ‘Hound dog’ heyday. Only the ‘over-jazz’ of ‘Flight’ lets the album down.

Adamson’s debut, Moss Side Story, was a soundtrack for a film that didn’t exist and every album he’s done since has a strong filmic quality, with highly visual narratives that are often in contrast to the mood of the songs.

With Back To The Cat, he’s delivered what sounds like his strongest score yet. (Miles Taylor)