Reviews of this week's jazz releases

KAIROS 4TET
Kairos Moment
Kairos Records
****
Saxophonist and composer Adam Waldmann makes a memorable debut leading some luminous young talent in Danish bassist Jasper Høiby, Rob Barron (piano) and Jon Scott (drums). His pieces, despite a reliance on rhythmic and melodic hooks (and counterpoint dazzlingly executed), are distinctive, accessible and serve the band well. And the contrast between Waldmann's adventurous, quirky yet logical soprano and his more songlike, lyrical tenor works beautifully; despite their differences, each is a unified entity. Amid the abundance of solo ability offered by Waldmann, Baron and Høiby, fluidly driven by Scott as well, is the sense of discovery and coherence within the quartet's interplay and rhythmic flexibility. Yet for all its closely wrought dialogue, the band also seamlessly absorbs the work of singer Emilia Martensson on two versions of the only vocal performance, Unresolved. www.kairos4tet.com

ENRICO PIERANUNZI
Wandering
CamJazz
***
As befits one of the great piano masters in jazz, Pieranunzi is arresting at times in this solo venture (made almost two years ago), the crystalline articulation at the service of such a rare logic and lyricism as to make the album's title a misnomer. There is also a discursive quality to the mix of composed pieces, beautifully explored, and free improvisations that comprise it – although "free" is misleading when it's applied to the playful logic with which he toys with found motifs here. Yet many of these spontaneous creations are no more than brief sketches, scarcely explored or developed before they are abandoned. It's the longer performances, such as Rosa del mare, Fermati a guardare il giorno, Foor-fee and the beguiling simplicity of For My True Love, all ballads, that pack a poet's emotional impact compared with some of the darker moods also examined here. www.CamJazz.com

CONTE CANDOLI & BOB COOPER
Thinking of You
Timeless
***

This previously unreleased early- 1990s session catches two great names from the heyday of West Coast jazz at a time when they were, chronologically at any rate, in the twilight of their careers. There’s little sign of that in their playing. Cooper, particularly, is in prime form, with a big, bluff Hawkins-like tenor sound and a mix of swing and bop in his phrasing, while Candoli’s mobile, inventive trumpet comes courtesy of Dizzy Gillespie. The piano-bass-drums of Rein de Graaf, Koos Serierse and Eric Ineke provide sympathetic support, and it’s obvious from the way they lock as a unit during de Graaf’s solos that they’re longtime associates. Standards, whether in their original form or disguised as derivatives such Ow! and Oleo, supply the repertoire for a concert clearly enjoyed by the players – and by an audience savouring two past masters doing their thing so well. www.propernote.co.uk