Rather than replace them, McBride opted to play the gig with just pianist Peter Martin and drummer Ulysses Owens Jnr. He liked the result, and formed a regular trio with Owens and pianist Christian Sands. Both are young players, and have deputised at various times live and in the studio for Inside Straight's regular pianist, Martin, and drummer Carl Allen. This is the group's first album.

"It's a pretty diversified trio," says McBride. "The real core foundation is hardcore swinging blues and the American songbook. Part of that is because Christian [Sands] is so well-rounded and willing to go to so many places, that I can't help but want to swing hard with him and Ulysses."

Owens is also the drummer for McBride's Big Band, and the two players have successfully built the close rapport that any rhythm section requires if it is to truly swing. "Ulysses and I have a closely formed musical relationship, where we know one another's time and feel very well. I think he's picking up the tradition after [drummer] Lewis Nash. I love his combination of technique and artistry."

The album opens with just the kind of blues McBride alludes to with , which he co-composed with Sands, before the trio tackles Oscar Peterson's gospel-tinged . is a McBride-composed ballad, which takes the tempo down a bit and allows Owens to showcase some sensitive brushwork.

was composed by pianist Dr Billy Taylor with whom Sands studied. Taylor died in 2010. "I knew he was a student of Dr Billy Taylor's," says McBride, "but when I heard him he floored me. It was amazing hearing an 18-year-old really dealing with the tradition. He had his technique together, and all his tempos - ballads, medium, bebop. Plus he played the blues and could get esoteric too. I thought 'Finally, a young player who has all of the language'. It was such a relief."

is forever associated with John Coltrane, and it is no surprise that there is a touch of McCoy Tyner in Sands' playing on the old show tune.

A second Rodgers and Hammerstein composition, the ballad from , features McBride on arco bass, before the album closes with the funky exuberance of , Johnnie Taylor's 1968 hit.

Anyone who enjoys good piano trio jazz and/or McBride's bass playing will enjoy this, and there is not a lot of music like it being made.

"My trio seems to be an anomaly these days," says McBride. "I find myself, when listening to young guys on the scene, it's very musically clever, but I'm not feeling that kind of soul satisfaction I felt at one time. There was a time when the young guys took pride in paying tribute to the masters but still keeping their own identity and remaining within their own generation."

Meanwhile, fans of jazz-rock fusion and guitarist Lee Ritenour will probably want to be at Grappa's Cellar tonight: Ritenour and his band are appearing there for one night only.

Three noteworthy albums featuring the bass playing of Christian McBride.

• (1997, Telarc): the triple-bass attack of Ray Brown, John Clayton and McBride works much better musically than you might expect of such an unconventional configuration.

   

• (1997, Verve): McBride pays tribute to the music of friend and occasional bandmate Herbie Hancock with the able assistance of drummer Mark Whitfield and Nicholas Payton on trumpet and flugelhorn.

   

• (2012, Concord): Ritenour's latest album features an all-star cast of rhythm section players, including McBride on EST's .