A Symphony of Amaranths is a collection of jazz tunes composed by Neil Ardley. It’s the kind of jazz that serious composers would recognise as carefully constructed, high quality music, even if they didn’t warm to it themselves. It is scored for an orchestra led by the brass instruments rather than the strings, but it follows all the rules of classical composition. It cannot be dismissed as amateur or low-brow.

As if to establish Ardley’s credentials as a respected composer, the album starts with the 25-minute, four-movement title track. And, to further illustrate the writer’s standing among his contemporaries, the credit notes list such eminent jazz musicians as: Stan Tracey, Jon Hiseman, Karl Jenkins, Barbara Thompson, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Don Rendell, Harry Becket, Henry Lowther, and Frank Ricotti.

But there’s a lighter side to the composer, too. On track 2, Ivor Cutler recites Edward Lear’s delightful nonsense poem, The Dong With The Luminous Nose – and you can’t get more frivolous than that.

The original release then has three more poems set to music: After Long Silence (W. B. Yeats), She Weeps Over Rahoon (James Joyce), and Will You Walk A Little Faster? (Lewis Carroll). That’s two sombre reflections on life and another fun little ditty (the latter with skat vocals by Norma Winstone). The 2014 re-release of Amaranths adds a coda that puts a tango spin on the British national anthem – one final touch of whimsy to round off the collection.

This blogger’s verdict? A beautifully harmonious posy of tunes that will bring a rainbow of colours into the discerning music-lover’s life.