Simon Toldam Trio: Kig Op 14

Thirty-something Danish pianist Simon Toldam is not easy to pin down. His extensive back catalogue ranges freely over the contemporary improvisation landscape, but however 'out' the music becomes, there is always an earthiness and humanity in his playing. The title of his tenth release as leader translates as 'look up', a reference to the things around us - 'church steeples', 'clouds', 'nothingness' - that we seldom notice. Toldam has a similar ability to draw new attention to the commonplace, revelling in the spaces between the notes like a latter day Thelonious Monk. And it is somehow reassuring that a musician who is capable of the most abstract free improv is careful not to neglect the 'in' end of the spectrum, like the album's charmingly simple closing blues. simontoldam.com