Jazz

Melissa Aldana
Echoes Of The Inner Prophet
Blue Note 5827747; LP: 5827748

First taught on alto by her father at home in Chile, Aldana switched to tenor sax when she heard Sonny Rollins and came to the USA on a Berklee scholarship in 2007. Winning the 2013 Thelonious Monk competition led to her first album for Concord with her Crash Trio. Then came her enduring quartet, her countryman Pablo Menares still on bass but now with Kush Abadey on drums and Lage Lund on guitar. Here, as with 2018’s 12 Stars, the quartet has become a quintet, this time with Cuban pianist Fabian Almazan, but it’s Lund who closely accompanies and echoes Aldana’s gestures. Her playing is often wispy and oblique, yet more authoritative and distinctive than ever on this deeply introspective and spiritual album. SH
Sound Quality: 90%

Charlie Pyne Quartet
Nature Is A Mother
33Jazz 33JAZZ302

In-demand songwriter, arranger, bassist and vocalist Charlie Pyne graduated from the Guildhall School in 2009 and in recent times has been heard in Zoe Rahman’s trio and Issie Barrett’s campaigning all-female band, Interchange. On this second album from her own quartet, Pyne’s songs ‘tell stories from a modern female viewpoint’, offered with what her PR calls ‘infectious cheerfulness’ and excellent instrumental content. For example, ‘Blackberries’ is a jolly evocation of fruit-picking that becomes a swinging jazz waltz. Great playing from drummer Katie Patterson, pianist Liam Dunachie and, above all, the fine smoky-toned tenor saxophonist Luke Pinkstone. SH
Sound Quality: 80%

John Surman
Words Unspoken
ECM Records 5862035

Master of all reed instruments and a major figure in British jazz for decades, Surman has long been based in Oslo, as is US vibraphonist Rob Waring. Both worked with Nelson Ayres on Invisible Threads in 2018, but here they are joined by drummer Thomas Strønen and UK guitarist Rob Luft, whose palette of almost orchestral sounds complements the ethereal conjurings of Waring perfectly. The album title alludes to the instant musical understanding between the players, and as Surman says, ‘Everything fell into place immediately’. With glistening ECM sonics, Surman is beautiful on bass clarinet, sweet on soprano and just breathtaking on baritone sax. A delight. SH
Sound Quality: 90%

The Clark Tracey Quintet
Introducing Emily Masser
Stray Horn Records SHR002

Drummer Clark Tracey set up his Stray Horn label in 2022 to put out Only A Year by Alex Clarke, who’s heard here in a quintet that launches another new talent. Singer Emily Masser, 20, is also a saxophonist (her father Dean Masser is a leading player in the North West) but now studies jazz voice at the Guildhall. Powered by Tracey and held together by the supreme piano and arranging skills of Graham Harvey, the quintet hits the ground running with Bobby Watson’s Blakey flagwaver ‘Bit A Bittadose’. This is a scatting tour de force for Masser but she tops it by closing with Jimmy Deuchar’s ‘Suddenly Last Tuesday’. Lots to enjoy throughout this great debut. SH
Sound Quality: 80%