IF Julie London was around today there’s no doubt that she would have ditched all those silly, fussy 50s arrangements and plumped for a no-nonsense sextet with a real beating jazz heart.

The great cleavage diva is sadly no longer with us. But the delectable Miss Dankworth most certainly is, providing ample proof that this is music unafraid of change.

And praise be… for a slick sextet is exactly what she’s chosen for her backing band.

Most of the material is the result of her late father’s guidance and in many respects could almost be a requiem for John Dankworth’s musical Midas touch as he deftly plays the Billy Strayhorn to her Duke Ellington.

Indeed, his influence is everywhere. From the opening mood-drenched Ill Wind to the haunting My Foolish Heart, the great man’s influence reaches from far beyond the grave.

Interestingly, her vocal inflections seem to be growing ever-closer to mother Cleo Laine’s style, most obviously in her rendition of Peggy Lee’s The Folks Who Live on the Hill and particularly with Mood Indigo.

The latter is a dazzling collaboration with her brother Alec Dankworth on bass duties. And amazingly, this standard sounds freshly minted, proof that the best tunes invariably come from old fiddles.

Just occasionally, the twists and turns of a Dankworth construction prove to be just a tad too elusive, as in the Etta James number, the identity of which proved just too unfathomable for this reviewer.

All the same, that’s the only minute flaw in a life-affirming set list.

It perhaps should also be noted that Jacqui Dankworth doesn’t shrink from playing the part, encased in a stunning stage outfit that would most certainly give the aforementioned Julie London a run for her gig money.

But most of all, this concert showed that the Dankworth dynasty’s future is now most certainly assured, safe in the hands of its rightful heirs.