Latest releases reviewed

TERJE RYPDAL Vossabrygg ECM ***

Recorded live, this is an extended piece inspired by Miles Davis's seminal Bitches Brew, using guitar, synthesisers, sampling, turntables, Hammond organ, electric piano, trumpet, bass and two drummers. Rypdal, who composed the work (joined as composer for some episodes by son Marius) had Palle Mikkelborg, Bugge Wesseltoft, Jon Christensen and Paolo Vinaccia on board, among others. Like Bitches Brew, editing helped create the final seamless result, which is an intense, shifting soundscape of moods, by turns ethereal or grooving and stridently dramatic, and occasionally arresting. It's highly accessible and everyone involved plays well, but it lacks a visceral edge; so considered is the feel that it's a surprise to know it was recorded live at Vossa Jazz Festival in 2003. www.musicconnection.org.uk

Ray Comiskey

GEOFFREY KEEZER Wildcrafted: Live at the Dakota MaxJazz *****

Despite his great experience, Keezer doesn't have the profile of some other pianists, but he's up there with the best. And this memorable live session with Matt Clohesy (bass) and Terreon Gully (drums) proves the point. There's a witty, gifted mind at work in the oblique freedom with which he approaches the brilliant deconstruction of the ancient Stompin' At The Savoy and Black And Tan Fantasy (which becomes an extended, grooving fantasia on the blues). But he's also a lyric poet in musical terms; his own Tea And Watercolours, The Kindest Soul and Ghost in the Photograph have an evocative, Zen-like simplicity and relaxation, further explored on Björk's delightful Venus As a Boy and on Koikugari Bushi. Throughout, there's a strength and unity of purpose about this trio that marks it as out of the ordinary. www.maxjazz.com

Ray Comiskey

BRIAN LEMON AZephyr Celebration Zephyr  ****

That Lemon is a marvellous mainstreamer is clear from this two-CD anthology of his work as "house" pianist for Zephyr over the last decade. A well-chosen collection features exceptional talents in the idiom, among them Ruby Braff, Warren Vaché, Gerard Presencer, Derek Watkins, Kenny Baker, Mark Nightingale, Roy Williams, George Masso, Alan Barnes, Tony Coe, Scott Hamilton and Ken Peplowski, mostly supported by a made-to-measure rhythm section in Lemon, Dave Cliff, Dave Green and Allan Ganley. Style, a fine young Irish guitarist said recently, doesn't matter; it's creativity. By that unarguable criterion, this is a delightful survey of Lemon's work. One quibble: programming; the preponderance of medium-tempo pieces on the first CD could have been broken up more. Otherwise, no complaints. www.zephyrrecords.co.uk

Ray Comiskey