This was virtuoso jazz singing from the effervescent Liane Carroll.

With a sore throat, and jesting about antibiotics and vodka, anecdotes mischievously tumbled out between every song as she quickly established a warm rapport with the audience. Despite her throat, Carroll’s supple and powerful voice held out until well into the second half, where the strain began to show in her intriguing interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi.

Until that point she had covered Dusty Springfield and Tom Waits, and ranged through jazz standards including What Now My Love and Devil Moon. Summertime took us by surprise as a cool swing emerged out of an Irish folk dance introduction, and there was fast and inventive scat singing in Fly Me To The Moon and Witchcraft.

The inflections and dynamics of Carroll’s agile voice were always perfectly judged and yet effortlessly spontaneous, always grounded by her confident, percussive and rhythmically solid piano.

A high point was a gospel-influenced cover of Moanin’. Yet while the evening was high in energy and momentum, Carroll was equally engaging and convincing in the slower numbers, including Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust.

The dark friendly intimacy of The Brunswick, full to capacity, is ideally suited to this kind of gig, and both performer and audience were clearly enjoying themselves.

Liane Carroll is a frequent visitor to the Brunswick Jazz Club, and also sings with drum and bass outfit London Elektricity. If you have never heard her, look out for her next date.