THIS was the first appearance in Darlington, and possibly in the North-East, of Josephine Davies’ Quintet.

It was led by Davies on tenor saxophone, with Robbie Robson on trumpet and flugelhorn, Ross Stanley, piano, Dave Whitford, bass, and Nick Smalley on drums, all except Whitford, new to the arts centre.

The group was formed three years ago and seemed to me to be a very well-balanced ensemble, well-prepared and ready to play a programme of largely original works written and/or arranged by Ms Davies.

Its overall strength was as an ensemble, but with some thoughtful solos always beautifully supported by the rhythm section. They opened with a Walt Weiskopf composition, You won’t forget me, which, with solos from everyone, served as a nice warmup number and introduced all the members of the band to the audience.

Davies’ Transition and Quixotic featured some pleasing harmonies behind Whitford’s bass solo on the first and a satisfyingly balanced trumpet solo on the second.

This was followed by a suitably sensitive interpretation of Bill Evans’s Turn out the stars, with a very mellow flugelhorn solo.

Second line Sally by the American tenor player Donny McCaslin opened the second set with some attractive unison passages for tenor and trumpet framing some crisp solos, with good use made of breaks and silences.

The major part of this set was Davies’s three-part Picasso Suite, which was extremely well received by the audience.

I particularly liked the way the opening was shared by trumpet and tenor, with the theme or flow passing seamlessly from one to another or both together.

Their encore, Nobody else but me, was perhaps the loosest number of the night with a little feature for everyone to conclude a most enjoyable evening.

Peter Bevan