Jazz

Rob McConnell: "Play The Jazz Classics" (Concord)

Valve trombonist, arranger and leader of Canada's Boss Brass big band, McConnell is a formidable musician whose international renown has never quite matched the consistency of his output. This latest release, made last May, matches its predecessors; that means superb craftsmanship in the orchestral writing and playing, and particularly good soloists - the leader, guitarist Ed Bickert, tenor Rick Wilkins and, on flugelhorn, Guido Basso and John MacLeod. Few bands would attempt Basie's almost suicidally slow Li'l Darlin' and bring it off, or play a transcription of trumpeter Blue Mitchell's coruscating solo on Blue Silver so brilliantly; the Boss Brass does both. If the CD has a fault, it is perhaps just a mite too polished; some of the Stitt-Eldridge musical eyeballing would have livened up the party and knocked some of the sugar out of the bowl.

By Ray Comiskey

Sonny Stitt: "Only The Blues" (Verve)

Damned with faint praise when it first came out, this late 1950 piece of high-calibre musical arm-wrestling has worn well. Stitt had so much fluency at his disposal that he sometimes coasted on his considerable technique and swing, but with the fiercely combative Roy Eldridge sharing the front line with him and the Peterson-Ellis-Brown-Levy rhythm section disinclined to take hostages, the great saxophonist was unceremoniously booted into some of the best playing of his long career. Three of the four lengthy tracks with Eldridge are blues; all four, and quartet performances of I Didn't Know What Time It Was and I Remember You, are single takes, proof of the quality on display.

Ray Comiskey

George Masso-Roy Williams: "Shakin'The Blues Away" (Zephyr)

Relying on a comparative handful of top echelon mainstream players, John Bune's Zephyr label is already consistency personified. His latest uses the "house" rhythm section - Brian Lemon (piano), Dave Cliff (guitar), Dave Green (bass) and Allan Ganley or Martin Drew (drums) - to back one of the regulars, trombonist Roy Williams, and another exceptional trombone player, George Masso, who guests on these fine sessions made in 1995/6. Williams, lighter in tone, more mobile and more lyrically inventive, contrasts effectively with Masso's heavier sound and more robust approach to produce a master class in trombone duetting. The way ideas are picked up and tossed back and forth, notably when the rhythm lays out and the joint leaders pursue some simultaneous improvisation, is often spectacularly accomplished.

By Ray Comiskey