Jazz

Etienne Charles – Creole Orchestra
Culture Shock
EC010; LP: EC010LP (two discs)

Trumpeter Etienne Charles came to the US from Trinidad on a music scholarship, studied with pianist Marcus Roberts and made his debut Culture Shock in 2006. For Creole Soul (2013) he recruited Sullivan Fortner (piano), Brian Hogans (alto sax), Alex Wintz (guitar), Ben Williams (bass) and Obed Calvaire (drums), who remain at the core of the 22-piece Creole Orchestra heard here, all great players. They thrive on Charles’s in-your-face arrangements that spice tradition with modern pizzazz. Guest singer René Marie reprises ‘I Want To Be Evil’ from her Love To Eartha Kitt album and strikes a tender note with Jon Hendricks and Harry Edison’s ‘Centerpiece’ before the band roars out with ‘Night Train’. Never a dull moment. SH

Sound Quality: 90%

Emmet Cohen
Vibe Provider
Mack Avenue MAC1211; LP: MAC1211LP

This is the pianist’s tribute to the late Funmi Onanaiye, producer, A&R man, event organiser, and a ‘force behind the scenes’ in the unmissable livestream series ‘Emmet’s Place’. And although this starts out as a trio album, Philip Norris on bass and ‘Emmet’s Place’ mainstay Kyle Poole alternating with Joe Farnsworth on drums, we soon hear three of Cohen’s erstwhile streaming guests – saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, trumpeter Bruce Harris and veteran Mingus Big Band trombonist Frank Lacy – making it a full-bodied sextet for the exhilarating title tune. And Cohen’s playing is as resourceful, as eclectic in its influences and yet as fresh and engaging as ever. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

Mark Cherrie Quartet
Any Anxious Colour
Windmill Jazz WJCD002

You might not think of the Caribbean steel pan as a jazz instrument, but its leading exponent has shown how effective it can be. Join The Dots (2018) offered mainly covers but this time Cherrie (also a composer of TV themes) offers a heartfelt set of originals. His quartet still includes pianist John Donaldson and drummer Eric Ford, but now has Tom Mason on bass, while guest saxophonist Dave O’Higgins meshes perfectly with Cherrie’s brilliant pan playing on, for example, the uptempo ‘Bop 21’. Guest vocalist Chantelle Duncan romances on ‘Moonbeams & Butterflies’ while percussionist Fergus Gerrand livens Cherrie’s carnival theme, ‘Ole Mas’. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

Artie Zaitz
The Regulator
Banger Factory Records BF005; LP: BF005LP

Guitarist Artie Zaitz, aka ‘The Regulator’ for his timekeeping role in the Banger Factory collective, appeared as organist on the unusual duo Back To Back, with trumpeter, composer and BF label boss Mark Kavuma on his second instrument, piano. But here the Hammond C-3 is handled superbly by Ross Stanley, and you can’t listen to the opener (and single) ‘Some Extent’ – a blues written by Zaitz when 17 with an assist from his guitarist father Jake – without thinking of Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith. Stanley is at his best here thanks in part, and with a little help from Dave Pattman on conga, to the inimitable and ever-swinging drums of Steve Brown. SH

Sound Quality: 85%