Latest CD releases reviewed
COLIN STEELE
Through the Waves ACT *****
In its gentle, understated way, this superb quintet is a bop unit quite unlike any other. Composer/trumpeter Steele's lithe, dancing, folk-like themes give its work a definite Scottish flavour and, with the help of pianist and co-arranger Dave Milligan, impose just enough form on each piece to keep soloistic self-indulgence at bay. And the soloists respond beautifully to the contexts created for them. Steele, whose third release this is, is now one of the finest young Scottish players, while our own Michael Buckley, in on tenor and soprano for Julian Arguelles, is a perfect front-line partner, highly in tune with the band's needs. The Milligan/Aidan O'Donnell/Stu Ritchie rhythm section is ideal. www.actmusic.com Ray Comiskey
HANK MOBLEY
Hi Voltage Blue Note ****
This 1967 session catches Mobley late in his recording career when the tenor saxophonist, like virtually everyone else, had been notably influenced by John Coltrane. The rhythmic and linear subtleties that distinguished his playing on his early-1960s classics had been replaced with a more direct approach, and his tone had altered accordingly. He espoused the freedoms being avidly pursued by Coltrane and others, but not excessively: Mobley was too much of a craftsman to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Helping him in all of this was an excellent front line completed by Blue Mitchell (trumpet) and Jackie McLean (alto), with a rhythm section that included drumming great Billy Higgins and Bob Cranshaw (bass), with a young John Hicks on piano. The remastered sound is a bonus, too. Ray Comiskey
CHARLIE BYRD
Homage to Jobim Concord ***
The late guitarist Charlie Byrd kick-started the 1960s bossa nova craze in the US with Stan Getz. Thirty years on, at this live festival date, he was still working the same idiom that made his name, this time with a septet of skilled mainstreamers, among them Ken Peplowski (clarinet), Hendrik Meurkens (harmonica) and Allen Farnham (piano), who shared the solo duties with the leader. Backing them were Bill Douglas (bass), Chuck Redd (drums) and Michael Spiro (percussion). Douglas and Redd push things along nicely and Byrd swings, but Peplowski doesn't sound fully at home in the idiom. The best work of all comes from Meurkens, whose Toots Thielemans-inspired lyricism is perfect for the gentle melancholy that underpins the music, even at its liveliest. www.musicconnection.org.com Ray Comiskey
