Ö÷²¥´óÐã

A couple of weeks ago I went to see the of a new(ish) improv band called at the in North London. I like the Vortex a lot. It's small, well designed, has a great sound and is always full of brilliant passionate people - those who run it and frequent it. I also like it because it's within spitting distance of one of my favourite restaurants. And there's a lot of in . does great Turkish food but it's the art I go there for. Visit any and every night at precisely 8.30pm and you'll dine in the company of . As with all aspects of their (public?) lives G and G run their diets to a precise and rigid system. So for the price of an £ 8 kebab you're guaranteed to feel like a bit player in a performance art piece.

So full of Shish and admiration for Gilbert and/or George's suits I headed to the Vortex. God it was packed. The reason - the first UK appearance of a new super-group of sorts. Buffalo Collision brings together two duos from seemingly very different parts of the US scene. (sax) and (Cello) are NYC underground jazz royalty. (drums) and (piano) are two thirds of - a piano trio that thrill and annoy in equal measure. Adept and fiery players they are best known for quirky covers of unlikely tunes by the likes of Aphex twin, Nirvana and Blondie.

On paper it's quite an unlikely double, double act. And in some ways it didn't totally gel. But that was part of why I liked it so much. Tim and Hank have their own language, Dave and Ethan theirs. Often Berne and Roberts would take the lead and head off in to open ground, then Iverson would seek out a melody in their madness and bring the group back to more structured play. The result was the on the spot invention of some wonderfully engaging music. Highlight was undoubtedly Hank Roberts - each solo he played left you wanting more.

For the first set I was squashed in the corner at the back next to an amazing guy who laughed his way through the entire 45 minutes. Rather than being annoying it was really touching. I love the way people laugh at free music gigs. Improv can be silly, moving, embarrassing, astonishing - all things that make you laugh. We had the comedian on Jazz On 3 a few weeks ago. He's a big free music fan and we asked him to interview the trombone player . It was fascinating. Stewart revealed that he'd learnt a lot about comic timing from watching free jazz.

You can hear Buffalo Collision on this week's Jazz On 3. They are one of four groups recorded at last Summer's . Sallfelden is a small town in the Salzburg region of Austria and home to one of the premierre jazz events of the summer. Also on the show are Austrian bass player , electro-improv from and a tribute led by .