Barry Green Trio: Great News - Album Review

UK pianist Barry Green travelled to New York and recruited two of that city’s leading players – saxophonist Chris Cheek and drummer Gerald Cleaver – to make this absorbing bass-less trio record, referencing some of New York’s greatest sons.

As well as overt homages to his immediate influences – there are tunes dedicated to pianists Mulgrew Miller and Cedar Walton – Green is interested in the liberated, post-bop territories discovered by drummer Paul Motian’s groups of which Cheek was a member.

The leader's thoughtful originals sit easily alongside Motian's Owl of Cranston, Monk's Off Minor and a joyous, gospel-soaked version of John Martyn's May You Never, the album's stand-out track which also makes evident a debt to Keith Jarrett's free-spirited American quartet.