Jazz

The latest releases reviewed

KETIL BJORNSTAD-TERJE RYPDAL
Life in Leipzig
ECM
****
Though the pairing of Bjornstad and Rypdal goes back to the early 1990s - and their work as a duo really began in 1999, since when they have toured often - this 2005 live date is the first recording of Bjornstad's classical piano and Rypdal's powered-up, rock- influenced electric guitar. It works. With beautifully controlled dynamics that run the gamut from forte to pianissimo, there's an almost operatic sweep to the music. What gives it its particular character and flavour, apart from the contrasting colours of piano and electric guitar, is the undeniable melodic grace of their compositions and the improvisations with which they transform them. Many revisit their musical past, including their time in The Sea quartet with cellist David Darling and drummer Jon Christensen; they're all handled with the assurance of long acquaintance and a freshness undimmed by familiarity.
www.musicconnection.org.uk
RAY COMISKEY

BILL STEWART
Incandescence
Pirouet
***
Stewart, a drummer noted for his adventure as much as his skill, chose Larry Goldings (organ and accordion) and Kevin Hays (piano) for this unusual take on the Hammond lineage. All the compositions (by Stewart) either nod to that tradition or bypass it. Thus the trio grooves over a piano vamp on Knock on My Doorand drives superbly on a straight-ahead Tell a Televangelist. But Four Hand Joboffers some of the album's most liberated playing (apart from the improvised Metallurgy, a drum feature), while Toadhas a Monkish rhythmic and linear unexpectedness, and the song-like See Ya, with Goldings on accordion, could be a plaintive background for an Italian movie. Hays, especially, and Goldings are gifted soloists, and their rapport with Stewart, who knits the group together authoritatively, makes this unusual line-up an unexpectedly successful one.
www.pirouetrecords.com
RAY COMISKEY

THE PIZZARELLI BOYS
Sunday at Pete's
Challenge
***
This is jazz, as they say in France, d'un certain age. When père Pizzarrelli et deux fils - Bucky (rhythm guitar), John (guitar), and Martin (bass) - got together with Tony Tedesco (drums), the style was reminiscent of pre-second World War Hot Club de France, the repertoire of similar vintage or older. No matter - the likes of Sweet Sue, Alabamy Bound, Whispering, In the Good Old Summer Time, When You're Smilingand such are played with affection, skill, verve and charm. Bucky gives a demonstration of the almost lost art of rhythm guitar, and John, with a hint of Django in his style (though his phrasing is vastly different) is an idiomatically on-the-button soloist. The rhythm section, even with tempos sometimes creeping gradually up, is light and relaxed while generating considerable drive and swing. Relatively simple, old-time music, but good of its kind and hard to dislike. www.musicconnection.org.uk
RAY COMISKEY