J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)

Italian pianist Stefano Bollani has covered many musical styles since becoming a professional player at the tender age of 15, his jazz collaborations with trumpeter Enrico Rava gaining him international recognition. Recorded in NY’s Avatar Studios last year, but only recently released, Joy In Spite Of Everything sees Bollani alongside drummer Morten Lund and bass player Jesper Bodilsen (both from Bollani’s working trio) joined by Mark Turner and jazz guitar maestro Bill Frisell. From the laid-back calypso style of the opener ‘Easy Healing’, with a tremendous contribution from Turner’s tenor sax, this modern jazz quintet sparkles with musical inventiveness and tremendous playing throughout the album. A bit more ‘air’ to the sound would have been welcome, nevertheless the tonality and textures of the band’s instruments are colourfully depicted.

Often recording as ‘The Larry Goldings Trio’ this longstanding collective of American jazz virtuosi Larry Goldings (keyboards), Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Bill Stewart (drums) cover all manner of musical moods in their latest collaboration Ramshackle Serenade, from the rubato rumination of the album’s title track to the Brazilian-flavoured ‘Luiza’, interspersed with a smattering of blues, swing and soulful grooving to keep listeners enthralled throughout. The seductively rich textures and colourful tones of Goldings’ Hammond B3 organ (so reminiscent of the sounds favoured by Focus’s frontman Thijs Van Leer) have been captured exquisitely by this impressively dynamic recording released on the German label. The musicians really do sound like they’re playing together in a believable space, spread across a wide soundstage. Great stuff! JB Sound Quality: 85% Hi-Fi News Lab Report Much of the ultrasonic energy arising from this digital recording is associated with the gentle percussion [as in track 8,above] but could also be a product of distortion from downstream limiters.

For baby boomers the world over whose teenage years were spent living on a diet of what’s now termed ‘classic’ rock, Deep Purple’s Made In Japan represents one of the world’s most visceral and energetic rock bands captured at their pinnacle performance-wise. The 2LP set issued in 1972 contained tracks recorded across three nights in Tokyo and Osaka a few months after the band had released Machine Head. When the applause dies down following ‘Smoke On The Water’, singer Ian Gillan asks his engineer to adjust the foldback monitors to make ‘everything louder than everything else’. This remains one of rock’s immortal moments, as does the band’s virtuosity in this timeless memento.

Singing variously in English and French, Canadian-born jazz singer/composer Diana Ariadne Panton has an enchanting voice, To Brazil With Love being her fourth album, released in 2011. It’s a meticulously manicured collection of Brazilian-infused MOR material with which you might want to chill out late at night: a curiously eclectic mix including compositions from Panton, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Paul McCartney. Panton’s moving interpretation of ‘And I Love Her’ (here it’s ‘And I Love Him’, of course) is a notable highlight – if you’re not offended by classic Beatles numbers being sprinkled with a heavy helping of saccharine – featuring a delightful piano accompaniment by veteran multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson. This is a lovely, if artificially intimate recording with a sound balance that’ll sound great on any good hi-fi system.