Latest CD releases reviewed
MARC COPLAND
Some Love Songs Pirouet *****
Pianist Copland, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jochen Rückert make a superbly apposite meeting of minds for this programme of standards, pieces by Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter, and two of his own originals. Copland is remarkable: delicately adjusting line and harmony, constantly confounding expectations, he reconciles surprise with inevitabliity, each performance balancing logic and lyric beauty. It's as if things are refracted through a creative sensibility in which the familiar is refreshed and the new presented complete, such is Copland's inventiveness - and the sure-footed richness of this trio's dialogue. Standouts include a buoyant My Foolish Heart, Glad to Be Unhappy (both of which have marvellous codas), Mitchell's Rainy Night House and his own archetypal Time Was. www.pirouet.de Ray Comiskey
MICHAEL PAGÁN
Pag's Groove Capri *****
Despite a 30-year career including associations with Gary Burton, Kenny Wheeler and Slide Hampton, Pagán is not widely known. A fine pianist, he is also, as this exceptional example of swinging big band jazz proves, a hugely talented composer and arranger. The most obvious influence is Bill Holman; without being a clone, he has the same ability to conjure up scintillating lines, fondness for artful counterpoint, great attention to detail and clarity of focus. His seven compositions here include a blues (with a graceful nod to Miles Davis), a waltz with a basic motif put to diverse use, a chart in 7/4 that doesn't wave its complexities in your face and, perhaps finest of all, a serial Crazy Man's Game, the personification of swing and rationality. The soloists, of whom Greg Gisbert (trumpet and flugelhorn) is the best known, are, like the band, worthy of the writing. www.caprirecords.com Ray Comiskey
THOMAS STRØNEN/BOBO STENSON/ FREDRIK LJUNGKVIST/MATS EILERTSEN Parish ECM ***
Considering the talent involved, especially Strønen, on drums, one of Scandinavia's most adventurous musicians, and pianist Stenson, one of the finest of all jazz pianists, this is something of a disappointment. Most of the material was spontaneously conceived by the quartet and much of the improvisation has the stop-go feel of players discreetly tiptoeing round each other. The most interesting contributions are Stenson's and Strønen's, though Ljungkvist (clarinet and tenor) and Eilertsen (bass) have their moments. Away from the sometimes etiolated abstraction, on the more structured pieces like Daddycation, Murring, In Motion and C Moll Maj, the quartet seems much more assured as a group and, paradoxically, more confident in taking risks individually. www.musicconnection.org.uk Ray Comiskey
