Little BlueCam Jazz ***

Little Blue is a side project from two members of Big Blue, the Finnish quartet that have won admirers in recent years for their beautifully austere Scandinavian folk-jazz. Giving the rhythm section the day off, trumpeter Jorma Kalevi Louhivouri and pianist Antti Kujanpää have not tried to fill in the gaps – rather, they revel in the deepening silence.

Too much is made of the so-called Scandinavian sound, as if climate and landscape were solely responsible for the lonely sound of musicians like Jan Garbarek , but there is no doubt that a certain Nordic melancholy pervades much of the music from the far north of Europe. Yet there is also warmth in Little Blue that descends as much from Keith Jarrett and from Kenny Wheeler, whose sublime Opening is the solitary cover. Cold hands, warm heart. CamJazz.com