Ron Carter is reportedly the most-recorded acoustic bassist in music history and has a rich 65-year career as both sideman and bandleader, probably most famous for his key role in Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet.

But he has also recorded over 60 albums as a solo artist, and this rare London Jazz Festival concert showcased his latest Foursight quartet featuring Renee (pointedly pronounced by Carter as ‘Irene’) Rosnes on piano, Jimmy Greene on alto sax and Payton Crossley on drums.

The immaculately-dressed band filtered on to a huge reception, the whole band taking a bow before a single note had been played, something this writer can’t recall happening at a jazz gig before. But it was an  entirely becoming opening for a perfectly-paced, meticulously-rehearsed set, essentially consisting of two long medleys featuring Carter’s sculpted, always memorable phrases (possibly reflecting his cello training), the deceptively light, fizzing sense of swing from Crossley and searching, elliptical playing of Green, sometimes reminiscent of Lee Konitz’s soundworld.

Crossley’s hi-hat/cymbal solo brought back memories of Max Roach and the early bebop pioneers, while memorable themes came thick and fast: ‘Joshua’, ‘You And The Night And The Music’, ‘My Funny Valentine’ (with sublime Rosnes harmony), a moving ‘Flamenco Sketches’, ‘Seven Steps To Heaven’ and Carter’s own ‘Mr Bow Tie’ and ‘Little Waltz’, the latter taken at quite a clip. There were nods to bossa nova and light funk, but essentially this was world-class ‘chamber’ jazz, always with an eye on the blues.

The piece that earned Carter a standing ovation though was his solo rendition of ‘You Are My Sunshine’, with some Bach and ‘Jingle Bells’ thrown in, a cornucopia of open-string phrases, slides, chords, double-stops and octave mastery. It was a reminder that Carter is not only hugely in demand but also one of the most recognisable rhythm-section players in all of jazz.

A remarkable evening of music in many ways, not least because Carter is 86 years old and still a youthful, industrious improviser.