Sides, Colors Thirteenth Note ***

Pianist, composer and arranger Roberta Piket is as impressive swinging in a post-bop mainstream/modern idiom as she is with more contemporary freedoms, something conclusively demonstrated in this thoughtful, well-crafted album. The first half uses a four-horn section with, on three tracks, a string quartet, as colour in lyrical explorations of a pair of lovely ballads by her drummer, Billy Mintz, and by Bill Evans, and her own sinister, Debussyesque Empty House. Two standards, one a fine trio performance, round it out.

The second half, with the trio, pushes the envelope further – something already foreshadowed in the first section’s tribute to the late avant-gardist, Sam Rivers.

The abiding impression on both is of the quality of Piket’s own performance; inside or outside, on piano, electric piano or organ, she is a player of great depth who thinks compositionally. See robertajazz.com