Jacky Terrasson
Gouache
Universal France **** NEW SEASON HIGHLIGHT
A welcome return from pianist Terrasson whose profile has dipped lately but who is newly signed to a major label after a spell in the past with Blue Note. Terrasson follows the Yaron Herman path a little by choosing unusual pop songs to cover (Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ the equivalent of Herman doing Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ a while back), but there’s nothing gimmicky in the slightest about Gouache, which also features a fun version of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’, some Satie, original music of Terrasson’s, and listen out for the delicate and affecting voice of rising star Cécile McLorin Salvant on John Lennon’s ‘Oh My Love’. The latter provides some spine tingling moments on what is overall a fine jazz pop-inclined album full of delights that draw you back in time through jazz history, a nod to James P Johnson here, a Herbie-ism there, but all these styles are stood back from, absorbed, and given a nowadays personality. Terrasson also plays Rhodes on some tracks, and he shows considerable depth throughout both as a soloist (on the Chopin-esque ‘Happiness’) and an accompanist, particularly set against the trumpet of Stéphane Belmondo on some tracks.
Released on Monday
Diana Krall
Glad Rag Doll
Verve ***
A very different Diana Krall at work on this T Bone Burnett-produced album, with a rootsy Americana flavour, recorded on an old nineteenth century piano, that unmistakable voice and lots of guitar. There’s very little jazz, possibly even none, but instead mature interpretations of songs ranging from the 1920s and 30s to the 50s. Glad Rag Doll, which takes its name from the Ager/Dougherty/Yellen song, the fifth track, has people like Marc Ribot cropping up to considerable effect, and it’s a bit of a reality check when you hear him in this context as other projects of his have included the wildly different Spirits Rejoice Albert Ayler project with Henry Grimes that played in London last year. The Krall band besides Ribot and producer Burnett on guitar by contrast has ukulele player Howard Coward, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Dennis Crouch, guitarists Bryan Sutton and Colin Linden, plus keyboardist Keefus Green. Krall, it’s easy to forget, began as a pianist and mentored by the late great Ray Brown developed her vocals side, becoming a very high class and much celebrated jazz singer who then switched to co-write her own songs on The Girl in The Other Room, away from her earlier interests in say the music of Nat King Cole. I think this album will appeal to Bill Frisell or Bob Dylan fans a bit, maybe Charlie Haden devotees even, at the country end of his work, will take to it as well. Highlights here are Doc Pomus’ ‘Lonely Avenue’, which is an interesting contrast to say the way Van Morrison interprets the song, and a deeply satisfying rendition of the Millers’ ‘Wide River To Cross’. A sophisticated album, with unexpected pleasures including the tempo and feel of ‘When The Curtain Comes Down’ and one that shows considerable artistic growth despite the tacky artwork. Clearly Krall won’t be pigeonholed, although of course that is not an ultimate end in itself and not the point of the album at all. What though is harder to ascertain is whether it is just a bunch of songs or not.
Released on Monday 15 October
Mick Coady’s Synergy
Nine Tales of the Pendulum
Jelly Mould ***
‘Naturally Liberating Molecules’ might be the most science-laden song title I have come across in a while (ask Irish bassist Coady after the gig what the song title means if you catch him and his band on tour this autumn). More familiar although that bit more metaphysical is Ivo Neame’s ‘Unseen Coracle’, which also features on the pianist’s octet album Yatra released soon. Featuring the cerebral circuitously engaging US alto sax player David Binney and with Irish jazz scene faces drummer Sean Carpio and saxophonist Michael Buckley joining Coady and Neame, Nine Tales is intelligent music making, with an engaging abstract accent that fans of Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman will relate to. Released in October
Davide Mantovani
Choices
Equilateral Records ***
While a little over produced but with a pleasantly pan-global feel to it UK-based Italian bassist Davide Mantovani is well known for his work as a sideman with a range of leading jazz artists including Zoe Rahman, who appears here on a number of tracks. At times the album transports you to Africa via the kora of Madou Sidiki Diabate (on ‘Choice is Yours’), but also skips back in time to the baroque for a brief foray into the world of Bach. But Choices also recalls the Pat Metheny Group at times, the approach of Antonio Forcione as well occasionally, and features tunes mainly by Mantovani that will delight this well liked and tasteful player’s fans and maybe newcomers as well.
Released on 24 September
Anat Cohen
Claroscuro
Anzic **** NEW SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Highly accomplished clarinet, bass clarinet and saxophone player, a critics’ favourite in the States, and rightly so, Anat Cohen doesn’t take herself too seriously and there is a finely honed character in her extraordinarily burnished playing at times as well as monstrously well developed technique. Go straight to her down home version of Abdullah Ibrahim’s ‘The Wedding’, which could bring her many new fans and wider audiences beyond America if news of this release spreads beyond New York and she tours. But with a band that includes the hip Jason Lindner on piano, skilled bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Daniel Freeman with special guests among them Wycliffe Gordon there’s much to savour on an album that slightly perversely uses the Spanish spelling of the Italian word ‘chiaroscuro’ in its title (a mere quibble, incidentally). Don’t forget to catch Cohen’s wonderful take on Artie Shaw’s ‘Nightmare’ with Paquito d’Rivera guesting.
US release date 25 September
Stephen Graham