The latest releases reviewed.
MARC COPLAND Voice Pirouet *****
With this second album in his New York Trio series, Copland again shows that, harmonically, he's unlike anyone else; his harmonic sense colours and shapes the voice of one of the most original pianists in jazz. With bassist Gary Peacock in magisterial form and drummer Paul Motian's subtlety with time and texture, he has a trio capable of three-way dialogue of a consistently high order. All but one piece are originals by Copland or Peacock; they include Copland's very distinctive blues, River's Run, and his songlike At Nightand Voices(where the merest hint of Bill Evans surfaces), and Peacock's Vignetteand That's It?,the latter a disciplined venture into relatively free playing. And their brilliant take on Miles Davis's classic All Bluesshows just how fresh, assured and independently minded this marvellous trio is.www.pirouetrecords.com RAY COMISKEY
MANU KATCHÉ Playground ECM ***
Katché's follow-up to his acclaimed Neighbourhoodalbum keeps the same pianist and bassist, Marcin Wasilewski and Slawomir Kurkiewicz, but brings in trumpeter Mathias Eick and saxophonist Trygve Seim in place of Tomasz Stanko and Jan Garbarek. The results are attractive, lyrical and very melodic, oozing the kind of class that such brilliant musicians can deliver. But it's vaguely disappointing. Katché wrote all the material, which includes ballads and more groove-oriented pieces, and Seim and Eick, who blend beautifully, deftly fit themselves into the arrangements yet seem, at times, subdued by them. Wasilewski, a marvellous pianist, is by far the most interesting element in the band. It's ingratiatingly lovely music by a group whose line-up is so strong that it raises expectations never quite fulfilled. www.musicconnection.org.uk RAY COMISKEY
NIELS-HENNING ØRSTED PEDERSEN The Unforgettable NHØP Trio Live ACT **
Listening to these two concerts, from 1999 and just months before Pederson's death in 2005, you could be excused for thinking that NHØP's long-running final trio, with Ulf Wakenius (guitar) and Jonas Johansen (drums), was just a vehicle for the great bassist's virtuosity. Pederson dominates it totally, almost tearing the limits of the instrument apart to express himself. It all grows a little wild, even inaccurate at times, and there's a feeling of a highly skilled group that, over years together, has acquired an audience-savvy way of giving the punters their money's worth. It's a somewhat misleading impression; I heard them on their home ground in Copenhagen in November 2004 and they were considerably more musical and lyrical. Strictly for fans. Incidentally, the track sequence is incorrectly numbered. http://uk.hmboutique.com RAY COMISKEY
