Latest CD releases reviewed

JOHN SCOFIELD
En Route Verve 
****

Scofield's sonic qualities may not be everyone's preference in guitar sounds, but he was in outstanding form at New York's Blue Note last December with electric bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart. This is a working trio and it shows. Scofield and Stewart, in particular, share a stunning degree of mutual awareness, secure in the knowledge that Swallow is there to ground their most adventurous flights as much as to inspire and contribute to them. The leader pours out an unlimited stream of vividly inventive lines, their impact heightened not only by the responses of Stewart and Swallow, but also by the guitarist's brilliant command of changes of register for contrast and dramatic effect. Ray Comiskey

KARIN KROG
Where You At? Enja
****

Possibly because she is something of an acquired taste, Krog has been a consistently under-rated singer for years. But her conversational style, with its ability to take you into the heart of a lyric as she feels it, is securely buttressed by her great musicality and amplified by the sheer breadth of material she can handle. On this savoury example of her art, superbly backed by Steve Kuhn (piano), David Finck (bass) and Billy Drummond (drums), she tackles three gorgeous originals by Kuhn, five tasty pieces by herself and John Surman, and basks in the moody sensuality of Lazy Afternoon, the wryly hip title track and, without self-pity, evokes the despair of Gloomy Sunday. She may be caviar to the general, but she's the real thing. www.jazzrecords.com/enja Ray Comiskey

JEREMY PELT
Close to My Heart MaxJazz
***

Normally an unalloyed joy on trumpet or flugelhorn, Pelt has reined in his natural flair for this mix of quartet, duo, solo and strings performances. Quartet outings with Mulgrew Miller (piano), Peter Washington (bass) and Lewis Nash (drums), a duet with Ireland's Dave O'Rouke, and a solo interpretation of Ellington's Don't You Know I Care provide enjoyable evidence of his imagination and magisterial technique. Less persuasive are five tracks with strings and rhythm, arranged and conducted by O'Rourke, where Pelt does little beyond spreading his lovely sound over the too-lush carpet they provide, although the more restrained strings on It's a Beautiful Evening persuade him to show what he can really do. www.maxjazz.com

Ray Comiskey