Sunday's concert by TIME (The Improvised Music Ensemble) was a pleasure, confirming this group as a fresh and vital part of the jazz scene here. As the first full-time professional ensemble of its kind in this country, it has already provided a focal point for vital young (and not so young) performers and composers, and its capacity to stimulate was evident.

Five originals were played - Backdoor by Brendan Doyle, Winter Waltz by David Whyte, Sostenuto and Jigsaw by Ronan Guilfoyle, and Indecision Time by Michael Buckley - and while some were more persuasive than others, even the lesser material had much to offer in terms of some beautifully conceived ensemble passages.

Outstanding were the two Guilfoyle pieces, both of which - especially Sostenuto - were superbly assembled, displaying an impressive mastery of the orchestral possibilities provided by an octet such as this.

With voices ranging from soprano, flute and trumpet at one end of the front line, to trombone and baritone at the other, the group sound did raise echoes of the great, seminal Miles Davis Birth of the Cool nonet but - like that band - this one was anything but cool.

Given soloists of the calibre of Michael Buckley, Jim Farley, Karl Ronan, Mark Bradley and the gifted young pianist, Justin Carroll, that was hardly surprising, but the attention to detail in even the most intricate ensemble passages - Jig- saw was a good example - never precluded gutsy performance and swing. And though the acoustic was not kind to the Michael Coady's bass, both he and Conor Guilfoyle gave the firm and sensitive rhythmic underpinning needed.

Highlights included the aforementioned Sostenuto, with marvellous alto solo by Farley, who also produced an even more unbuttoned effort on the tricky Jigsaw, raising the ante for the tenor and trumpet chase which followed, and the tenor and piano on the ballad, Indecision Time.