Ray Comiskeyreviews this week's jazz releases

JULIA HÜLSMANN

The End of a Summer

ECM

Hülsmann, making her ECM debut, is an individual pianist whose close- knit trio with Marc Muellbauer (bass) and Heinrich Köbberling (drums) reflects that individuality. Her spare, melodic approach and richly surprising harmonic sense serve her well on such ballads as the languorous, melancholic title track, the artful Senza and Not the End of the World. In these and other slow performances, including Sepia and Where in the World (the latter a lovely piece transformed into a subtly swinging medium 3/4), the intimacy of the trio's interplay is impressive. But Hülsmann can do much more than cloistered restraint, however resonantly beautiful. Performances such as the quirky, hauntingly ambiguous Last One Out, Konbanwa, Quint and Gelb are stripped of superfluous gesture, yet sustain a more obviously outgoing approach without diminishing the rigour of her own or the trio's playing. www.musicconnection.org.uk

ORGANICS

Liquid Sunshine

Living Room Project

Justin Carroll takes a more cerebral approach to the Hammond organ, which is exemplified on the second album from Organics, with John Moriarty (guitar) and Kevin Brady (drums). There's no hint of collard greens and blackeyed peas, so to speak, but the trio ooze coolly assured relaxation; Moriarty is even more fluent technically (and perhaps influenced by Louis Stewart) and Brady is on solid form. The star, though, is Carroll, whose wealth of ideas and capacity for building a solo to a natural climax are key factors in sparking the band's impact. Although a couple of performances (Out of the Blue and, especially, Azure) seem content merely to bask in a mood, they do go places with the atmospheric They Say He Was Ocean, which, with the more outgoing Sprung, Darkside and Songs of Love show the trio at their best. Sound quality, by the way, is beautiful. www.livingroom project.com

NORMA WINSTONE

Somewhere Called Home

ECM

ECM has repackaged 20 of its past gems for the first batch of a new mid-price series. Among them is this little 1986 jewel from Norma Winstone, on which the singer is accompanied by pianist John Taylor and one of the great maverick talents, Tony Coe, on clarinet and tenor. Winstone is in superb form both as singer and lyricist, setting her own words to originals by Egberto Gismonti, Kenny Wheeler, Bill Evans, Sergio Mihanovich and Ralph Towner. The standards (Hi Lili Hi Lo, Out of This World and Tea for Two) are so utterly transformed that they don't sound incongruous in such a programme, while the title track is a piece by Pat Smythe with lyrics by Fran Landesman. Winstone and Taylor are so perfectly matched musically that the presence of Coe is rather gilding the lily, though his contributions on Prologue, Celeste and the standards are particularly effective. www.musicconnection. org.uk