Grammy Award-winning bass player Christian McBride and his new acoustic jazz quintet, Inside Straight, playing at the Southampton Princess on Saturday evening and took the house by storm.The driving eloquence and infectious vibe achieved by this intimate group of musicians really cooked.McBride, one of the most sought-after bassists in the world of jazz, treated his audience to a virtuosic performance of prowess and dexterity.He moved about such a large instrument with ease and graphic fluidity, comfortably revealing its impressive range, whilst keeping a careful eye on each member of his quintet and revelling in every musical moment.Inside Straight is made up of old friends and successful jazz artists in their own right pianist Peter Martin, saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, drummer Carl Allen, and one of McBride’s former students Warren Wolf on the marimba.The group achieved a mesmerising synchronicity, playing at times in quintet, quartet, trio and duo forms.Whilst in every number each musician took it in turns to take centre stage putting a different slant, colour and texture on its interpretation.Shaw gave us a driving, insistent sax, Wolf played an eloquent, fluid marimba, Martin some taut piano and Allen was both emphatic and subtle on drums, underscoring and punctuating each track.As for McBride he produced a sultry, limber and deeply rooted bass from which everything else seemed to sprout and grow. The musicianship all round was excellent.The marimba is a highly unusual choice for a jazz quintet format, according to Bermudian jazz musician Ron Lightbourne. Its metallic cousin the vibraphone is usually preferred.Still, the timbre of its upper register afforded penetration in this highly percussive combination.It gave a unique sound identity to the group and it offered the arranger choice in blending, especially in its lower and middle register with the piano’s.Wolf, the marimba player, was exceptional and his inventiveness abundantly apparent.With Inside Straight McBride has made a return to straight-ahead acoustic jazz, having previously done a number of funk and fusion albums, a return which the artist has described as being like “Mother Earth” to him.Straight-ahead jazz was a term coined in the wake of the predominance of fusion with its rock leanings. Purists sought a leaning toward the jazz genre’s more historical traditions.Much of Saturday night’s programme was made up of numbers taken from McBride’s album ‘Kind of Brown’ which was released in 2009 and features his quintet.McBride composed most of the material, including the catchy ‘Brother Mister’, which started the first set and ‘Used Ta Could’ a gospel flavoured piece in ¾ time which featured a blistering shout of a solo by the saxophonist.With ‘Theme for Kareem’, the bandleader and arranger pays tribute to the late trumpeter Freddie Hubbard with whom he worked and offered some of the most intricate playing of the session.‘Starbeam’, another of McBride’s compositions, had a pop song feeling, according to Mr Lightbourne that was a mood changer, and feature a terrific solo by both Shaw on alto sax and Wolf on the marimba, who McBride referred to as his WMD for his ability to ‘wipe out’ an audience on demand.After the break out came the soprano sax in the tribute piece for ‘Uncle James’, referring to the jazz artist James Williams who was a mentor to most of the band members.McBride’s take on Duke Ellington’s classic, ‘Sophisticated Lady’, which followed, was an amazingly rendered interpretation where the piano and bass worked in duo form.This started with a long solo bass introduction that was very revealing of McBride’s technical skill and then lead into the sonorous voicing of Peter Martin’s piano.‘Stick and Move’, a quirky upbeat piece meant to evoke the business of the boxing ring closed out the second set.Rapid and punctuated by irregular stops, it sought to evoke the movements of a boxer and was, in the end, another pretext for a set of dazzling solos by the instrumentalists.This fast-paced blues number feature traded choruses between the alto and the marimba at first, before they resorted to trading fours. This also featured an extended drum solo displaying Allen’s remarkable skills.Bringing the house down as the band completed its final session the audience was on its feet with resounding applause and a standing ovation. Jazz of this quality is a rare delight.Louise Foister