On a Friday night at Mara's Caf�� and Bakery in Berkeley Heights, you can satisfy several cravings at once: Answer the dinner bell, soothe a sweet tooth and hear eight New Jersey locals wail at some not-so-standard jazz tunes. The octet is Jazz Lab 6+2, which began as a sextet, then added two more players. These are serious and gifted multi-instrumentalists who burn to share what they've concocted in their laboratory. Jackson Liu, Mara's owner, gave them free rein over his 75-seat caf�� with rewarding results.

The group has no real leader but drummer Mitch Germansky doubles as head of promotion and organization. Jean-Louis Saillot, electric bassist on this gig, gets leader recognition for hosting rehearsals at his spacious and instrument-filled practice space. Marc Ferranti, who plays tenor, soprano sax and flute, directs solo traffic on some of the tunes some of the time, as does Frank Grasso, valve trombonist whose primary instrument is the trumpet but since Bob Seeley plays trumpet, no need for two. Larry DeLucca on alto sax, Ed Werner on keyboards and Bob Balogh on guitar complete the eight pieces.

After warming up with a nicely swinging mid-tempo "Days of Wine and Roses" and the Jobim favorite, "One Note Samba," the octet got into a