Sketch draws on wealth of talent.(Jazz)

Although Senegal broke an untold number of French hearts in the opening match of last year's World Cup, there was at least one Parisian who claimed a small but not insignificant victor, from the defeat. For it was during the 90 minutes in which the world's best strikers lost their va-va-voom that Philippe Ghielmetti, head of A&R and producer of the superlative French independent Sketch, had the opportunity to record a few solo takes of bassist Anthony Cox. The American was due for a session with his compatriot and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and drummer Daniel Humair but the latter, being a keen fan of Les Bleus, decided to put down his sticks doting the clash between France and its former colony.

"So Anthony played solo for about 10 minutes," says Ghielmetti. "As soon as I heard those takes, I knew that I wanted to do a whole solo record with Anthony. The following morning he played for about 50 minutes, then he just said 'I'm out, I have nothing more to say.' We had enough for two records."

That And This, Cox's solo tour de force, is just one of a string of outstanding releases which Ghielmetti has produced since Sketch's inception as a jazz label four years ago. 2002 was the year of the late Mal Waldron's One More Time, 2001 Daniel Humair's Liberte Surveillee and 1999 Humair/ Urtreger/Miehelot's Hum. All of these releases, intriguing hybrids of swinging post-bop, free playing and effete classical sensibilities, swiped major awards from the French jazz press. In the next few months, new albums from Marc Ducret and Giovanni Mirabassi aim to further that tradition.

Sketch had already been going as a graphic design company for some 12 years prior to that and this first incarnation is ...