June round-up

In Common III features a fine band fronted by saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matthew Stevens. It’s the third episode of the In Common strand but

Smith wants the three albums to be approached as stand-alone programmes. The illustrious rhythm-section (pianist Kris

Davis, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington) is new to the project but gels superbly. Spontaneous, improvised pieces are paired with composed tunes, the two elements dovetailing effectively. The textures that the members of the group produce, both on their own account and as contributions to the band’s collective sound, are as beautiful and satisfying as their melodic and harmonic ideas are beguiling. (Whirlwind Recordings WR 4783) ★★★★★

Be Am by Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, opens with a sequence of gently anthemic tracks so subtly beautiful that you wonder whether the rest of the album will disappoint. It doesn’t. Mostly a solo recital, except on ‘Roads’ and ‘Emerging’ which feature tenor saxophonist Håkon Kornstad, the music never loses its intensely personal character. Wesseltoft’s penchant for electronics is held back until around three-quarters through, when looped recordings of birdsong are subtly introduced on ‘Life’, and Wesseltoft switches to electric piano alongside the evocative sound of the African kalimba. In these troubled times the music on this album is balm for the soul without ever sounding trite or complacent. (Jazzland Recordings 377 9432) ★★★★★

Port of Saints is the third collaboration between saxophonists Ron Caines and Martin Archer and the Axis ensemble. Caines is in the spotlight most of the time while the environment transforms around him: densely-textured ensembles jostle evocations of blues, New Orleans processions (with richly-coloured harmonies from the reeds and brass) and a touch of calypso, and fugitive snatches of melody rise to the surface: one phrase seems to evoke a ghostly visitation from Richard Rodgers’s ‘If I Loved You’. Mostly, though, it’s free and fairly abstract (including some splendidly ferocious baritone sax) building to an intense climax with ‘Endgame’. (Discus 128CD) ★★★★

For Lifted, Trombone Shorty asked the performers to cut loose and play as if on stage. The album certainly has an immediacy that bespeaks spontaneity. Maybe fringe from a jazz perspective, but it’s funky, feisty, phat and often fun (which is fine with me) and the heritage of New Orleans street music and R&B is in its blood. ‘Everybody in the World’ especially evokes the dancing ‘second line’ of a street parade. The whole shebang is driven by a ferocious pile-driving rhythm section and powerful horns, and there are some soulful vocals, not least Lauren Daigle on ‘What It Takes’. (Blue Note 3879691) ★★★★

Saxophonist Trish Clowes has received many awards, honours and appointments, but custom has it that you are only as good as your next project. Clowes’s reputation and standing is safe with A View With a Room where she again fronts her talented band My Iris in a programme of varied compositions, all but one of which she wrote for livestream events during the pandemic. With her astringent tone and flexible take on harmony she delivers stimulating explorations of pieces ranging from the bustling angularity of ‘The

Ness’, via the lithe funk of ‘Amber’ to the reserved melancholy of ‘Ayana’. (Greenleaf GRE-CD-1094) ★★★★