A famous conductor – Toscanini perhaps? – once remarked that, in Heaven, when the angels talk to God they use the language of Bach but talking among themselves, the language of Mozart.

But what if they are jazz lovers? Louis Armstrong perhaps? Or Oscar Peterson? Now there's another possibility – Adam's Apple – and what an inspired choice to open Bath Abbey's concert series. Both the classical and jazz traditions drink from the same musical fountain and both, at their best, are searching for excellence.

The Trio are mainstream jazzmen but make a speciality on taking well-known hymn tunes and giving them a different treatment.

So we started with their version of Let All Mortal Flesh keep Silence, played at a distance by guest musicians Mike Daniels (trumpet) and Simon Marsh (saxophone), giving an attractively haunting antiphonal effect. Other highlights included a rousing version of the Welsh tune Hyfrydol, which would go down very well at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, a lovely plaintive saxophone melody, As the Deer and then Make Peace, full of poignant meaning, followed appropriately by Israel.

I enjoyed the first outing of their new piece Adam's Apple with a neat trumpet riff and Uffingham, sad and slow with a very moving bluesy feel. Then at the end, when we thought it was all over, a gorgeous, subdued, but telling reprise, Be Still. It was real jazz, as it should be played, with just the right balance of improvisatory freedom and a flexible structure to give each player – Adam Biggs (piano), Ben Groenevelt (double bass) and Rob Brian (drums) – his chance to contribute. Thus the whole ensemble comes together and the overall effect is immeasurably enhanced. It was a great evening, relaxed and dreamy, then lively and exhilarating by turns. And the two guest artists gave the Trio a different dimension in sound colour and texture. More please.

Peter Lloyd Williams