Jazz

Nigel Price Organ Trio
It’s On!
Nervy Nigel Records Nervy CD006

Guitarist Nigel Price has been leading his Organ Trio – with many different lineups on different labels, and lots of guests – for at least 20 years. Once a prominent figure in the UK’s Acid Jazz scene, he’s worked with the UK’s leading organists from James Taylor to Pete Whittaker. But he really excels in the company of his current keyboard partner, the peerless Ross Stanley. He matches Stanley’s classic Hammond sound, driving rhythm and endless invention with single-note virtuosity and spectacular chording reminiscent of Benson rather than Wes. It’s a well-trodden path but, propelled by the drums of Joel Barford, Price’s well-chosen jazz standards and sparky originals come up fresh, bright and always enjoyable. SH

Sound Quality: 90%

Pete Horsfall
Electric Relaxation
Banger Factory Records BF009

With Kansas Smitty’s bandmate Joe Webb on piano plus Joe’s regular bassist Will Sach and drummer Sam Jesson, versatile trumpeter Pete Horsfall engages with ‘the entire continuum of jazz – past present and future’. The first of four tracks homaging Ellington, ‘The Mooche’, is followed by an engaging ‘Azure’ before ‘Winter Blues X Money Jungle’ fuses Duke and rapper MF Doom, Horsfall doing deadpan muted Miles, Webb fierce and spiky until enveloped by synth sounds. Horsfall growls on ‘Lady Of The Lavender Mist’ but there’s more Doom and hip-hop too, especially in the title track that covers A Tribe Called Quest, and a gospel finale. An intriguing experiment. SH

Sound Quality: 80%

Aaron Parks
By All Means!!
Blue Note 7844919; LP: 7844920

Also a noted sideman for Terence Blanchard and Joshua Redman, Seattle-born pianist Parks has been recording as leader since 1999, and since 2018 with his rock-influenced band, Little Big. Here, though, he reconvenes his earlier trio partners, bassist Ben Street and drummer Billy Hart (heard on the 2017 ECM album Find The Way), adding tenor saxophonist Ben Solomon to complete a warm-sounding and thoughtful quartet, in a recording made shortly after a happy season at the Village Vanguard. Most of the pieces are absorbing and reflective, but stepping up a gear with the exuberant ‘Anywhere Together’, while ‘Parks Lope’ is a lovely stroll through the sunshine. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

John Taylor
Tramonto
ECM 6554015

An inspiration for generations of British pianists, the late John Taylor first recorded for ECM in 1977, with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler in his Azimuth trio. After more Azimuth albums and other collaborations came Rosslyn, recorded in April 2002 with Americans Marc Johnson (bass) and Joey Baron (drums). Now we can hear the same trio live, from January of that year at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham. With only two of same titles, a lilting ‘Between Moons’ and an extended ‘Tramonto’ giving more space for drum and bass solos, this expansive set with its honest live sound is an essential companion to the studio album recorded three months later. SH

Sound Quality: 80%