Appearing at the City Halls, Glasgow as part of this year's Glasgow Jazz Festival saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski and pianist Euan Stevenson'sNew Focus duo is a gig that ranks as one of the picks by Scottish jazz artists appearing at the festival. Better known for his tenure in Brass Jaw, Wiszniewski (above) and Euan Stevenson as part of a quartet plus the Glasgow String Quartet and a harpist also involved released New Focus in 2012 an album that had its genesis in an Edinburgh Jazz Festival Stan Getz Focus-themed concert for which Wiszniewski and Stevenson wrote new material and performed, recording this album in the studio to reflect their own compositional direction with each contributing pieces. New Focus is very accessible and melodic, and the tunes are so much stronger than you’ll hear around. It is dreamier than Getz’s master work, Bobby Wellins’ singular style circa Under Milk Wood might ring a bell in terms of placing Wiszniewski’s highly proficient and characterful style. With Stevenson pinpointing influences is not so easy although he has been compared a little loosely to Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner and on this album does not embrace needless grandstanding, a big plus, as he is a nuanced performer. Brass Jaw fans will be fascinated to hear Wiszniewski in another musical situation, while Stevenson’s star will undoubtedly rise both for his writing here (for instance ‘Music for a Northern Mining Town’), and the tastefulness of his overriding approach.
