The meaning of ‘vertú’ is not clear to me. According to the first entry that comes up in a Google search, it’s either “knowledge of or expertise in the fine arts” or “the good qualities inherent in a person or thing”. Or it might just be an old spelling of ‘virtue’. Whichever definition you choose, it has to be a good thing. Probably, a very good thing. And the self-titled album by the Vertú band is very good indeed.

There’s a simple recipe for the Vertú collective. Take five former members of Return to Forever. Retain Stanley Clarke on bass and Lenny White on drums. Replace Chick Corea with Rachel Z (keys), install Richie Kotzen (guitar) for Al Di Meola, and bring in Karen Briggs (violin) for Jean-Luc Ponty. Keep the jazz fusion style of the original band and serve hot from the recording studio.

You might think the resulting dish would suffer from the loss of those exceptional former members, but I promise you the new line-up has all the flavour and flair of the old band. It would not be misleading to describe Vertú as Return to Forever Mk 2. The musicianship is of the highest standard, and the tunes have all the vibrancy and panache of the ancestral band.

They only released the one album, but it is undoubtedly one to treasure.