It's said that if you wait long enough, then every band from your youth - with certain obvious exceptions - will come around again. The Blackbyrds appear never to have gone away. They've been in Edinburgh once or twice in recent years, but if you were to tell me that this groovin' band that grew out of jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd's university professorship had been resident here at the Cafe Royal's old function suite since their 1970s heyday ended, it would sound almost plausible.

Except, there's none of the staleness that might imply. They produce the rhythms with professional nous, with drummer Keith Killgo's unfailingly directional shuffles and Joe Hall's relaxed but definitive basslines at their heart. Not for nothing, though, is one of their hits - and a startlingly effervescent highlight here - called Happy Music.

There's showmanship as well as smiles onstage, not least from guitarist Orville Saunders, whose repertoire includes tear-it-up fretboard gymnastics, straight-to-the-point blues runs, playing the guitar behind his head, heavyweight emphasis and some of the lightest, crispest chording this side of Chic in their pomp.

Some of their lyrics may not have aged as well as keyboardist Kevin Toney, who surely keeps his portrait in his attic, but when the music feels this good and saxophonist Antonio Parker laces it with such vital soul-blues preaching, that's permissible. Similarly, the estimable Junita Williams may have needed a crib-sheet on certain songs, but her testifying recalled the adage that the only difference between going to church and doing a soul gig is the time of day involved.