Tone Poems, JAZA****

Pianist and composer Michael Garrick is a major British jazz figure with an astonishing range. The works revisited for this fine new album were first composed for church services, ballet, poetry, and small and larger groups, and they share a very English (and Ducal) sensibility. Now adapted for big band from, mostly, innately complete small group originals with specifically evocative concerns, their impressionism and musical narratives remain in balance, despite the broader tonal palette, thanks to his craft. A big band packed with good soloists responds with particularly striking performances, full of gently melancholic beauty, on Songs of the Ainur, the celebrated October Woman, Rustat's Gravesongand Black Marigolds, and the through- composed Floating on Summer, with superb solos from, among others, Gabriel Garrick, Martin Shaw, Dave Shulman, Matt Ridley and the leader. See michaelgarrick.co.uk