The Worshipful Company Of Musicians' Jazz Award, Pizza on the Park, London, ***

There's an old joke at jazz gigs where the leader announces that he'd like to introduce the band. He then calls upon the pianist to shake hands with the double bassist, the saxophonist with the trumpeter and so on. This bit of dated stageplay is not just a joke, though, for at many gigs the fact is that at least one of the musicians will neither know nor have played with the others. The band can get away with this not because of what the jazz-ignorant often allege – "they're making it up as they go along" – but because they share a common language derived from hundreds if not thousands of "standards", old show tunes and originals that have passed into everyday jazz parlance.

There's an old joke at jazz gigs where the leader announces that he'd like to introduce the band. He then calls upon the pianist to shake hands with the double bassist, the saxophonist with the trumpeter and so on. This bit of dated stageplay is not just a joke, though, for at many gigs the fact is that at least one of the musicians will neither know nor have played with the others. The band can get away with this not because of what the jazz-ignorant often allege – "they're making it up as they go along" – but because they share a common language derived from hundreds if not thousands of "standards", old show tunes and originals that have passed into everyday jazz parlance.

This is why the award evening run by the Worshipful Company of Musicians works. Six young players of repute are chosen and have just over an hour to decide their set before they go on stage at Pizza on the Park. As they've never played as a sextet before, hesitations and fumbles are inevitable.

But as the evening wore on they achieved a commendable tightness, particularly on the second-half opener, "Caravan". With Steve Fishwick's trumpet taking the main theme, the two saxophonists, Simon Allen and Sam Mayne, quavered dramatically underneath in a creditable arrangement of the tune by Juan Tizol (who was a long-standing Ellington sideman). This was a good showcase for Zoe Rahman, a pianist with a light touch (apart from the occasional exclamation mark of a left-hand chord) who never chooses the obvious, and whose harmonic approach was the most intellectual of the evening.

Three stood out. Rahman is already an award-winning player with an album out on the Jazz FM label. Simon Allen is only 23, but he knows how to produce a luminous, floating tone on alto sax, has an impressive technique, and constructs his solos with maturity and confidence (just watch the vibrato, though).

Either of these would have deserved to win when the audience cast their votes at the end, but for the first time the laurels went to a bass player, Ben Hazleton. I'm glad, for Hazleton really is the finished product. Possessing a good ear and the kind of chops taken for granted on the international circuit, he not only delivered supple, subtly supporting bass lines, he also produced the most sensitive solo of the evening with intelligent nods to the tune on Monk's "I Mean You". Ten out of 10 to him. It's rare for a less than wholly specialist audience to appreciate a bass player. That he managed to convince without resorting to showy gestures is testament to how good he is.