Jazz

The latest CD releases reviewed

GIOVANNI GUIDI
Indian Summer CamJazz ***

Guidi is a talented young Italian pianist who will open the Douze Points festival here next month with two of his colleagues from  this CamJazz debut album, João Lobo (drums) and Dan Kinzelman (tenor/clarinet). The album's bassist, Francesco Ponticelli, will be replaced by Stefano Senni for the Dublin visit. Although Kinzelman is a capable player who fits in well (particularly on the diaphanous Shadows and the wry, ironic Il Campione, both of which could be Italian movie soundtracks) the tight trio performances is the CD's real meat. Guidi's pieces, if not strikingly original, are thoughtful, and as a player he thinks compositionally; there are no grand gestures when he makes effectively lyrical solo use of the deft changes of Begatto Kitchen, The Path and September Never Comes, for example. Where this might take Guidi in the future is up for grabs. http://uk.hmboutique.com  

NILS WOGRAM'S NOSTALGIA
Affinity I ntuition ****

Nostalgia, for Nils Wogram, isn't quite what it used to be. His cogent, eponymous trio with Florian Ross (Hammond) and Dejan Terzic (drums) may reflect the past, but behind the retro feel of such originals as Bus, Affinity and the church-like Hope is an affectionately ironic perspective that's clearly contemporary. Italso happily embraces such as Wogram's Clash, where the organ and trombone solos are like free-range raps over percussion. Both sides join in the initially indeterminate Blury Moments and, above all, the superb, swinging and fluid Where Everything Comes From, with unfettered uptempo improvisation emerging from a slow-drag, down- home ballad. Wogram is technically dazzling, but what other trombonist could also evoke everyone from Tricky Sam Nanton to JJ Johnson and Jimmy Knepper and still be so unmistakeably himself? www.musicconnection.org.uk

STAN TRACEY-KEITH TIPPETT
Supernova Resteamed *****

Free improv isn't everyone's bag, but whatever nexus of inspiration was in the air between Tracey and Tippett at London's ICA in August 1977 produced something extraordinary. There may be a certain arbitrariness in dividing this stream of invention into five celestially themed tracks (Veil Nebula, Vela Pulsar, Parallax, Supernova and Conjunction), although it makes it easier to access the flow. But there is nothing arbitrary about the way these two gifted pianists go about their work together. Master colourists in using the full resources of the piano for both contrast and continuity, they seize on each other's ideas with an uncanny sense of mutual focus and respect to develop the dramatic arc and thrust of each spontaneously created piece. The sense of engagement and discovery about this belatedly released recording is irresistible. www.musicconnection.org.uk

© 2008 The Irish Times