Kirk Lightsey review – his talents burn as brightly as ever

This was a straightahead jazz gig that took off – particularly whenever the ageless Lightsey ignitesKirk Lightsey, the lean, hawk-faced, giant-handed pianist from Detroit via Paris is now 78, but his talent for energising the players around him burns as brightly as ever, and his improvisations (which have paid respect over the years to inspirations from Nat King Cole and Thelonious Monk to Chopin) retain their cogency, colour and impatient elegance. Lightsey has been co-leading a European