ROLLER TRIO, KING TUT’S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW ROB ADAMS

NOT many bands would relish the idea of following the mighty Federation of the Disco Pimp on to a stage. Facing a crowd warmed by the Federation’s bruising, muscular funk didn’t faze the latest arrivals from the extraordinarily productive Leeds jazz-improv-rock scene, Roller Trio, however.

The Rollers, as it now seems safe to call them without evoking half-mast jeans and tartan, are an impressively self-contained unit.

Their music, often restlessly shifting moods, requires mutual trust and camaraderie to negotiate its intricacies and while developing a fast rapport with the crowd through saxophonist James Mainwaring’s cheeky tyke persona, they also projected a confident us-against-theworld demeanour.

Their having the same instrumentation – saxophone, guitar and drums – as their fellow graduates from the Leeds scene, uncompromising noiseniks trioVD, makes comparisons between the two bands inevitable and although the Rollers have a similar jagged edginess, they also have a melodic side that trioVD haven’t shown yet to my knowledge.

The music’s well worked out, with tough saxophone riffs set against Luke Wynter’s spaceybassy guitar arpeggios moving into deep harmonic squalls and proudly asserted grand themes, the shifts marshalled and driven by Luke Reddin-Williams’ authoritative drumming.

Mainwaring’s John Zorn-like tuts and chokes and circular breathing-built momentum drew enthusiastic applause but ultimately, a little more of the tenderness that he shows on certain YouTube clips would have added another, welcome dimension to a sound that majored on the abrasive.