Latest CD releases reviewed
Public Blue Note
Altoist and composer Osby, who seems to flirt as effectively with accessibility as the more outré areas of interest, does it again on this live date made in New York last January. Holdovers from last year's excellent St Louis Shoes album are Nicholas Payton (trumpet), Robert Hurst (bass) and Rodney Green (drums); in on piano is the virtuoso Megumi Yonezawa. Amid angular reworkings of Summertime, Bernie's Tune and Shaw Nuff, along with three Osby originals, the leader is as quirkily individual and cliché-free as ever, enjoying an almost telepathic relationship with the equally singular Yonezawa. Ray Comiskey
Solo Situation Exit
Composer, pianist and painter Springer is an adventurous artist who, as befits a founder member of the seminal Rip Rig & Panic group, refuses to confine himself to any one idiom. On this solo piano album the jazz expression dominates, but it's also suffused with a classical austerity at times, as he explores 11 pieces inspired by his own paintings. It's tempting to see each performance as a study in changes of mood and perspective, especially as each contains a basic core of ideas, which are then expanded, embellished, and examined from different angles. Springer has a limitless capacity just to sit at the piano and improvise, letting his imagination take him wherever his technique allows. Ray Comiskey
The Thing to Do Blue Note
This engaging mid-'60s date, one of the finest under Mitchell's name, was the product of the trumpeter's partnership with the outstanding tenor, Junior Cook, and their then-working group. The piano chair was filled by a young Chick Corea, and Gene Taylor (bass) and Al Foster (drums) completed the rhythm section. The repertoire, by Mitchell, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson and Corea, includes Mitchell's always tasty Fungii Mama, a lovely ballad, Mona's Mood, the title track and Chick's Tune, based respectively on Lady Be Good and You Stepped Out of a Dream. No great attempt to push the boundaries, just good hard bop well played. Ray Comiskey
