Latest CD releases reviewed

DAVID NEWTON Inspired BND ****

This is as good an example of straight ahead, swinging mainstream jazz piano trio as you'll find. Its virtues are those of superior craftsmanship and material that offers the players something to chew on melodically and harmonically. If that means standards - and it does here - then it has to be said that Newton, Matt Miles (bass) and Steve Brown (drums) unequivocally bring out their possibilities in the style espoused. Newton has been so consistently good at it for so long that perhaps he's taken for granted, but this is quite possibly his best trio album yet. In a finely honed trio, Brown demonstrates, yet again, that he's almost unequalled in this idiom and context. And Newton signs off on the disc with a superb performance of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. www.musicconnection.org.uk Ray Comiskey

STEFANO BATTAGLIA Raccolto ECM ****

Although two CDs of essentially free jazz is essentially something for committed fans, rather than those who like it as an extra colour on the music's palette, it has to be said that the two trios featured here - Battaglia (piano), Giovanni Maier (bass) and Michele Rabbia (drums) on one, with Maier replaced by Dominique Pifarély (violin) on the second - offer some highly focused playing throughout. At their best there's little to choose between them, but the most arresting dialogues tend to be found with the piano-violin-drums format. There's a purposefulness allied to more risk taking about the way they engage with each other and seek form through the emotional arc of each performance, whereas the first trio exudes a sense of some pre-existing degree of agreement about structure, however freely it's handled. www.musicconnection.org.uk Ray Comiskey

GIOVANNI FALZONE Suite for Bird Soul Note ***

Falzone, an iron-lipped trumpeter with a huge tone, devised and arranged this seven-part suite for septet: himself, Beppe Caruso (trombone), Tino Tracanna (baritone/soprano), Carlo Nicita (flute), Francesco Pinetti (vibes) Tito Rantzer (bass) and Fernando Faraö (drums). Each piece is based on a melodic snippet from Parker originals. Falzone's treatments, tricky but brilliantly played, are distinctive and adept. The results are somewhat uneven, sometimes more like self-consciously clever, updated hard bop with bells and whistles. But at its best Falzone's approach yields some striking results, particularly on the third, fourth, fifth and seventh movements, based on Scrapple from the Apple, Billie's Bounce, Confirmation and Au Privave, respectively, which evoke an impressive range of mood and performance. www.harmoniamundi.com Ray Comiskey