Something a bit different this week, and in a different kind of venue too.

Bars, clubs and concert halls are the natural habitat of jazz, but double bassist Malcolm Creese has chosen a wide variety of "sacred places" for an extensive tour by his group Acoustic Triangle.

They have played in churches, chapels, tabernacles and cathedrals around the land over the last six months and on Friday it's the turn of a lovely little chapel at Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire.

The band is as fresh and classy in its style as their venues of choice. Purely acoustic (a bit of a trend at the moment with bands like the Tord Gustavsen Trio eschewing amplification for the delights of natural sound), Acoustic Triangle plays a style of music that has one foot in jazz and the other in contemporary European classical music.

That's not to suggest that the musicians ignore the springy rhythms of jazz or the personal odysseys of improvisation.

The other two points of the triangle are saxophonist Tim Garland and pianist Gwilym Simcock.

Creese and Garland formed the band and recorded their first CD with the veteran pianist John Horler - and a fine album it is.

But when the piano chair became vacant it was a surprise to all that it should be taken by the not long out of college Simcock. At almost the same time he also joined Garland in Bill Bruford's Earthworks, and soon had listeners sitting up and taking notice.

In Acoustic Triangle there is a lot of composing along with the playing. Both Garland and Simcock are investigating the tones, textures and sound pictures of classically influenced composition.

Creese, a sturdy anchor for the other two, has an extensive and illustrious CV which includes playing with John Dankworth, George Shearing, Lee Konitz, Acker Bilk, The London Philharmonic and on the soundtrack of Lord Of The Rings.

Garland, of course, has many projects on the go at the moment, as jazz artist in residence at the new Sage arts centre in the North East, as well as back with Chick Corea next year as a soloist in Corea's crossover jazz/classical Mozart project.

Simcock, meanwhile, took his place alongside the giants Konitz, Dave Holland, Norma Winstone, Evan Parker et al in the Kenny Wheeler 70th Birthday band and drew admiring looks from all of them. He is now building a big band of his own.

Put them all together and an evening of challenging, absorbing, and downright lovely music is certain.

Acoustic Triangle play Abbotsholme School Chapel on Friday at 8pm. For advance tickets and directions to the venue please call 01543 263304. For more information look at www.acoustictriangle.com and www.abbotsholmeartssociety.co.uk