Latest CD releases reviewed

MARC COPLAND/JOHN ABERCROMBIE/ KENNY WHEELER
Brand New Challenge
*****

Copland, Abercrombie and Wheeler gave one of the finest concerts of recent times a couple of years ago in Cork, so it's no surprise that this beautiful CD, recorded only six months ago, is a gorgeous example of their ego-free colloquies. Seven originals, plus Taking a Chance on Love and Nat Adderley's Jive Samba, offer the raw material, but it's what they do with it that counts. The core performances are probably those on Wheeler's Reach for That Other Place and Watching Simon, Abercrombie's Take Four and Brand New, and Copland's Odyssey. On all, the mutual sensitivity gilds some ravishingly intimate playing and glorious soloing, with pianist Copland's capacity for dialogue and support extraordinary. Is there a better guitar, piano and trumpet/flugelhorn trio any- where? www.challenge.nl Ray Comiskey

BILL POTTS
Porgy & Bess + Bye Bye Birdie Lonehill Jazz
*****

This marvellous, ebullient big band take on Porgy and Bess shows there are other valid jazz responses to Gershwin's masterpiece than the great Gil Evans/ Miles Davis one. Potts was an accomplished arranger in the same stylistic area as Bill Holman and, for this 1959 date (on CD for the first time), he had a star-crammed band that included Bill Evans, Art Farmer, Harry Edison, Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Woods, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. Pott's brilliantly inventive charts got a superb ensemble and solo response as a result. He used an 11-piece group, including Clark Terry, Joe Newman, Willie Dennis and Woods, for his 1963 Bye Bye Birdie arrangements and still produced something enjoyably his own. The remastered sound is excellent. Ray Comiskey

CURTIS FULLER
Keep It Simple Savant
***

The title comes from Fuller's pithy instruction to the band on the first track, and that's just what they do. It's the trombonist's first release as leader in a while, and he picked a compatible group in Javon Jackson (tenor) with a little-known rhythm section of Doug Carn (piano), Rodney Jordan (bass) and Fritz Wise (drums). Apart from Lover Man and I Didn't Know What Time It Was - which show Fuller's gorgeous tone, beautiful reading of melody and solo strength at their best - Neal Hefti's Girl Talk and Jule Styne's It's You or No One, the material is originals by the leader, including several from his Jazz Messenger days, and Jackson and Carn. It's an attractive reminder that the great trombonist can still cut it in the mainstream idiom. www.harmoniamundi.com Ray Comiskey