Latest CD releases reviewed

JOHN ABERCROMBIE
Class Trip ECM
****
Guitarist Abercrombie, with Mark Feldman (violin), Marc Johnson (bass) and Joey Baron (drums), turns up trumps again for ECM with a gorgeous album underlining not only the group's authority, but also the uncanny empathy between the leader and Feldman. Perhaps it's Abercrombie's unassuming musicality and conceptual strength that allows Feldman to flourish so superbly here, but the violinist is in extraordinary form throughout. Collectively and individually the quartet, too, frequently touches peaks of beauty, with such as Excuse My Shoes, Cat Walk, Jack and Betty and the title track - all delightful Abercrombie compositions - and the jointly improvised Illinoise reinforcing the impression taken from their previous ECM album, Cat'n'Mouse, that this is one of the finest groups he has ever led. Superb. 
www.ecmrecords.com
Ray Comiskey

JESSICA WILLIAMS
Live At Yoshi's Volume One MaxJazz
***
A decade or so ago Williams was almost ubiquitous on CD. She still records, but more sparingly, making new albums all the more welcome. And she's in sparklingly virtuosic form on this live West Coast date with her working trio, completed by bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis. The Tatum influence seems more marked than before, the Monk touches less obvious, but she has her own thing together and revels in the compulsive swing she can bring to bear on a programme of standards, laced with a few originals by herself, Billy Cobham and Monk (whose Misterioso gets a very personal reading before it becomes Blue Monk). No great surprises - just good, straight-ahead jazz played with obvious pleasure in the making.
www.maxjazz.com
Ray Comiskey

ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND
110 Year Anniversary of a Jazz Legend ODJB
**
The legend was Nick LaRocca, cornettist leader and co-founder of the ODJB, which, in 1917, became the first jazz band to record; the ODJB on this CD is a re-creation of the original, led by his son, Jimmy, on trumpet, and recorded four years ago to mark his father's centenary. It's essentially two-beat music, raggy and lilting more than truly swinging, with the traditional clichés of breaks, stop time choruses, abrupt endings and, somewhat out of context, cod Armstrong vocals. Apart from LaRocca Jnr's robust lead and an energetic attempt to capture the spirit of the long-departed (and long-surpassed) original, this is good-humoured fossil music. The geological record can be studied at Dublin's Vicar Street tonight.
www.ODJB.com
Ray Comiskey