A piano trio that forensically examines some quite familiar modern jazz standards (‘All Blues’, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, ‘Straight No Chaser’, ‘Solar,’ etc) placing them alongside a sprinkling of originals and a Francophone perennial Jacques Brel's ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ recorded in an Antibes studio in August last year. Very simply presented with just basic artwork the music does the talking and does so conversationally perhaps though a little too relentlessly in the more detailed passages. Pianist Pilc, one of the big latterday piano stars of French jazz now a citizen of the US, digs down very deeply here to the innards of what makes a trio tick followed faithfully by the tonally commanding bassist Bramerie and drummer Ceccarelli terrier-like in the chase.The trio achieve great heights even transforming something as dog-eared as ‘Old Devil Moon’ into something fresh and inviting. A virtuoso display that moves beyond technique in its best moments. SG
_{Just released}