Latest CD releases reviewed

TIM GARLAND

Libra Global Mix (Two CDs) *****

Garland's great gifts, as a player, composer and orchestrator in jazz and classical music, are a joy on this marvellous album, featuring his Lighthouse Trio, a string group and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), augmented by a guest wind section. Though Paul Bollenback (guitar) joins for four quartet outings, the trio – Garland (soprano/tenor sax/bass clarinet/ bass flute), Gwilym Simcock (piano) and Asaf Sirkis (percussion) – are mainly heard alone; on the magnificent four-part Frontier, however, they are gradually integrated with the RPO. Apart from the magisterial assurance of his orchestral writing, Garland offers sublime saxophone and clarinet playing throughout the small group and orchestral settings. And to hear this exceptional trio find freshness in the sparse beauty of Blue in Green, or drive with exuberant imagination through the tango-derived Bajo del Soland Sly Eyes, is an unforgettable experience. As is the whole set. www.globalmix.co.uk

RAY COMISKEY

MATT TURNER, PEG CARROTHERS, BILL CARROTHERS

The Voices That Are Gone: The Music of Stephen Foster Illusions ****

There's something deeper and darker here than simple nostalgia: a sense of loss in these extraordinarily original explorations of Foster's melodies. This is expressed in the interaction between cellist Matt Turner and the remarkable, harmonically daring, ambiguous work of pianist Bill Carrothers, and the warm, high purity of Peg Carrothers's vocal lines. Thus their two versions of Beautiful Dreamerfind the vocal's "innocence" menaced by nightmare in one, and by a wary life's-not- like-that in the other. The five vastly different approaches to My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnightsubtly exploit this highly charged contrast between gentle innocence and a disturbing awareness of the transience of all things. And, apart from the inspired cello and piano playing, Peg Carrothers gives a superb performance over the constant subversion of mood (and harmonic expectation) behind her.

RAY COMISKEY

ROB MOSHER

The Toirtoise Old Mill ***

With a jazz and classical background, self-taught composer/orchestrator Mosher wrote all the material for this impressive debut by his Storytime dectet, on which he also plays soprano, oboe and English horn. He has a notable melodic gift and, using various reeds, with trombone, trumpet/flugelhorn and French horn, and guitar/bass/drums, a rare talent for orchestral colour, often developed on the slenderest of bases. It's epitomised in the lovely Twilight, a persuasive union of soloist (guitarist Nir Felder) and ever-changing ensemble evolving serenely over a final harmonic stasis, and the tone poem Silhouette of the Man in the Fog, which builds towards a revelation that, rightly, never materialises. Despite a tendency to use all his resources almost all the time, Mosher writes beautifully. And, though there are hints of Shorter, Gil Evans and Kurt Weill, he forms a distinct musical personality. His is a talent to watch. www.robmosher.com

RAY COMISKEY