RAY COMISKYreviews the jazz pieces of the week...

Stan Tracey

Senior Moment

Resteamed ****

Along with Andy Cleyndert (bass), Clark Tracey (drums) and Simon Allen (alto/soprano/tenor), Stan Tracey revisits some of his old originals for an album as fresh and enjoyable as anything he’s ever done. The relative newcomer is Allen, a formidable talent with wide experience at the top table and the ability to burrow into a piece, take on its colours, produce exhilarating solos and quit with plenty of gas left in the tank.

It's a serendipitous gift, since Tracey's pieces, though rooted in the old song form structure and the blues, have a distinctive character to flavour Allen's hard bop approach. The seasoned rhythm section is superb and Tracey's piano a constant joy, while the quartet brings a palpable assurance to its work, notably on Duffy's Circus, Rocky Mount, Stemlessand the delightfully eccentric Afro-Charlie Meets the White Rabbit. No senior moments here. www.resteamed.com

Stefano Bollani

Stone in the water

ECM ****

As Gleda, Bollani’s 2004 recording with Jesper Bodilsen (bass) and Morton Lund (drums), showed, this is a particularly cohesive, interactive trio. And their ECM debut, their first album since then, confirms that.

Unlike, say, EST, they don’t set out to break new ground, which may be a surprise, given Bollani’s willingness to take risks in other contexts. But the pianist’s innate lyricism and inventiveness is amply released in this ego-free trio, in which the fluid, responsive playing of Lund and Bodilsen give him the liberty to go wherever he wishes, harmonically and rhythmically, and be secure.

On an album full of understated beauty, they collectively embrace the moving simplicity of Caetano Veloso's Dom de iludir, Bodilsen's Edithand the pianist's title track, and tackle Poulenc's Improvisation 13or the fun of Joker in the Village, all with a persuasive unity of purpose. www.naxosdirect.ie