Listening to the singer-pianist Liane Carroll is a little like being confronted by three performers all at once. There is the jazz artist whose extravagant scat singing evokes memories of Sarah Vaughan; the blues diva who summons up the tortured ghost of Nina Simone; and the cheerful, unpretentious artisan who turns even the grandest bandstand into a corner of her local pub.

Sometimes the personalities shift back and forth so rapidly that it is hard to keep track. As in the case of Clare Teal, the mischievous and very British sense of humour sometimes undercuts the emotional thrust of the performances. Approaching the end of one impassioned number, Carroll could not resist quipping “dinner is served” when a gong-like noise erupted from the direction of the kitchens. With her Jack-the-lad demeanour, she does not take herself too seriously; there are times when you wish that she would.

Still, thanks to her passion for everything from the Gershwins and Duke Ellington to the quirky rock singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren, she can always be relied upon to chart an unconventional course. Her quartet - with the saxophonist Julian Siegel firing off peppery solos - was in particularly sharp form, the bass guitarist Roger Carey shrugging off Carroll's playful comments about his Hugo Boss suit as he locked on to the aggressive but precise drumming of Mark Fletcher.

Some of Carroll's material is a tad timeworn. It is hard for any singer to find a fresh route through Summertime, for instance, although her up-tempo treatment of That Old Black Magic blew away most of the cobwebs. But she also has the ability to catch listeners off guard. Her stark, soul-baring version of Alfie - balanced against Siegel's probing bass clarinet - was little short of breathtaking.

Tom Waits turns up in every other singer's repertoire now, or so it seems. Thankfully, there was no hint of tokenism in Carroll's almost frighteningly intense rendition of Picture in a Frame. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good was etched in shades of grey, and towards the end the band kicked into a relaxed medium-tempo blues on Fine and Mellow.

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