Early-2013 has plenty in store. Wayne Shorter’s Without a Net released on 4 February, as previously discussed in these pages (http://bit.ly/W1Pymr), is a landmark release, its nine tracks engrossing and demanding, and it’s a thrilling ride. Studio track ‘Pegasus’, the Corinthian pillar of this largely live return to Blue Note, is a composition that stands tall with any of Shorter’s best work as a composer. A fortnight later comes the release of The Glimpse (Whirlwind), Robert Mitchell’s piano album for solo left hand available from 18 February, an extraordinary achievement early listens more than suggest, with a dozen tunes featuring the influential pianist on ridiculously fine form. Serious, with a contemplative feel listen out for tracks such as ‘The Sage’, like so many of the other tracks here, a composition that unfolds itself gently but casually delivers a powerful synthesis of abstract thought that always rewards your attention. Marius Neset’s new album Birds will also be a notable pace-setter in the spring. The young Norwegian saxophonist has come up with something special on this Edition/Gearbox release. Read Marlbank for more on this 18 March release in the New Year. Written for the 1927 French film La Proie du vent (translated into English as ‘The Prey of the Wind’), and also inspired by the film music Miles Davis wrote for Lift to the Scaffold quarter tone trumpeter’s Ibrahim Maalouf’s latest album Wind (Mi’ster) is his most mature and imaginative album to date. Meanwhile Swiss French trumpeter Erik Truffaz has also returned impressively with El tiempo de la Revolución (Blue Note France) shortly to gain an official UK release having been released on the Continent earlier and available here as an import. Club friendly, modal, and electronically processed sounds reminiscent of Mark Isham’s 1990s purple patch, Truffaz’s quartet has produced an evocative mood piece that joins the dots between the reimagined 1950s in his head and the “successive revolutions through which our lives are chronicled", as the unsigned note on the sleeve a little loftily suggests. Intelligent dance music through a jazz filter as ever with Truffaz, but this has more edge than his last few albums, and Anna Aaron’s Nico-via-Beth Gibbons vocal touches are a definite plus. The Truffaz quartet plays Ronnie Scott’s on 25 March.

Stephen Graham

Robert Mitchell pictured above