Latest CD releases reviewed

ERIC VLOIEMANS' FUGIMUNDI
Live at Yoshi's Challenge *****

The sheer authority of trumpeter Eric Vloiemans's exceptional trio with Harmen Franje (piano) and Anton Goudsmit (guitar) is one of its defining characteristics. Classical elements, including baroque, hints of Mediterranean folk and even a Stephen Foster-ish funk are filtered through a jazz sensibility and blended with a deceptive lack of strain. In a trio whose collective identity is more than the sum of its talented parts, there's a shared sense of adventure and discovery, and a feel for when a performance has run its natural course and is complete. And they do it equally persuasively whether exploring the differing contemplative shades of the evocative originals Corleone, Ernesto, Philip, Fatimaand the sole standard, Over the Rainbow, or the fun of Antwan and Harry,and the risk-taking of March of the Carpenter Ants. This is a trio quite unlike any other. www.challenge records.com

CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE & INSIDE STRAIGHT
Kind of Brown Mack Avenue   ****

Bassist Christian McBride’s Inside Straight, with Steve Wilson (alto/ soprano), Warren Wolf Jr (vibes), Eric Scott Reed (piano) and Carl Allen (drums), doesn’t jolt the pillars of jazz orthodoxy, but it is a surprise: contemporary bop, carried off with irresistible aplomb by an accomplished group. Unobtrusively wrought arrangements skilfully deploy the quintet’s resources for a full and varied ensemble sound. Solos, significantly, are generally kept to one or two choruses (except for a jam on the uptempo Stick Move), and the brevity adds a cogent logic and discipline to the group’s abundant inventiveness and lyricism. But it also has the rare feel of a working band whose talents have gelled and whose pleasure in playing is palpable. Everyone is in sparkling form, the rhythm section is formidable, and Wolf, clearly inspired by Milt Jackson, is a real find. www.propernote.co.uk

FRED SIMON
Since Forever Naim Jazz ***

Composer/pianist Fred Simon has decades of top-level experience writing music for film, television, dance and recordings, in every setting from solo piano to symphony orchestra, and with the likes of Ralph Towner, Larry Coryell, Lyle Mays and Kurt Elling. So, respect. And it's no surprise that this is well-crafted music. Its strongest card is undoubtedly Paul McCandless, best known as one of the great animating spirits in Oregon, who adds considerably to the mix with his virtuoso soprano, oboe, english horn, bass clarinet and duduk. The rhythm section, which also includes Steve Rodby (bass) and Mark Walker (drums), is also fine. Everyone plays well and it's all done in the best possible taste, as the late Kenny Everett used to say. The but– and there is one – is that it could do with the musical equivalent of some hair on its chest. Or something. www.naimlabel.com