Jazz

Fred Hersch
The Surrounding Green
ECM Records 7534291; LP: 7534422

Though he’d made countless albums over several decades, the Cincinnati-born pianist’s first for ECM was The Song Is You with trumpeter Enrico Rava in 2021. After two wildly different duo projects, with Esperanza Spalding and Rondi Charleston, he returned to ECM in 2023 for the solo album Silent Listening. Now, again in the gorgeous acoustic of the Auditorio Stelio Molo, Hersch is joined by bassist Drew Gress and drummer Joey Baron, both familiar trio colleagues. There are Hersch originals including the thoughtful title track, jazz tunes and standards – typically, Hersch flirts blithely with the chords of ‘Embraceable You’ before taking a jocular final swing at the melody. Whimsical, moving, worth hearing. SH

Sound Quality: 90%

Jasper Høiby
Fellow Creatures: We Must Fight
Edition Records EDN1279

Høiby’s brilliant trio Phronesis took ‘an extended break’ in 2020, but the Danish bassist had already launched Fellow Creatures as a quintet with the self-titled 2016 album. Rather like his 3Elements series (each album with a different trio) this is a ‘flexible’ project, and the lineup for We Must Fight is new. As its arranger, saxophonist Alex Hitchcock re-imagined Høiby’s Phronesis music for a group including Saied Silbak on oud, Xavi Torres on piano and Luca Caruso on drums. So these tracks have the intensity and drive of Phronesis but with the colours of a larger ensemble – as does the newly written title piece, Høiby’s passionate call for justice. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

Jacqui Dankworth
Windmills
Perdido Records DOR-2401

For this album of favourite songs in many genres, the singer assembled a galaxy of musical talent to perform arrangements by her pianist husband Charlie Wood. The Carducci String Quartet feature on a flamenco-tinged ‘Windmills Of Your Mind’, a beautiful ‘Raglan Road’ and three other numbers, while the four pieces enlivened by the BBC Big Band include the nostalgic opener ‘London By Night’ – which also features another string group, Bedazzle!. And yet, with just the core trio of Wood plus Oli Hayhurst and Ralph Salmins on bass and drums, Jacqui’s own ‘I Will Wait For You’, written on the passing of her father Sir John Dankworth, is touching and perfect too. SH

Sound Quality: 85%

Tony Tixier
Poems Never End
Whirlwind Recordings WR4388; LP: WR4388LP

Want spontaneity? Versatile pianist Tony Tixier recorded recently in France (on Rhodes) as a duo with trumpeter Hermon Mehari, but this new trio album was done in one take in a New York studio, with no preparation and ‘no faking or playing around in post-production’. It sounds like a rehearsal at first but gels as bassist Joe Martin complements Tixier’s lyricism on ‘Heart Is Lost’ before they go straight ahead and fast with ‘Present’. Guest saxophonists Seamus Blake and Logan Richardson contribute to one track while percussionist Mino Cinelu fires up Alain Jean-Marie’s ‘Tropical Blues’. And Tixier’s subtle playing is never flashy but amply rewarding. SH

Sound Quality: 85%