July round-up

View From Above is the debut album from percussionist, session musician and producer Tristan Banks. He’s said he wanted to push the acoustic quartet format to its limits.

I’m not sure that he’s quite done that but it’s certainly an arresting session.

It was recorded ‘as live’, which may at least partly account for its impressive sense of immediacy. While coherent well-structured development is never neglected, rugged piano, bass and drums from John Crawford, Davide Mantovani and Banks himself drive ten of Banks’s compositions forward with a determination sometimes bordering on ferocity, while Paul Booth’s reeds and woodwind ride the waves with aplomb. (Ubuntu Music UBUO1331CD) ★★★★★

Another debut comes from Multitraction Orchestra. Reactor One, like many albums conceived during the Covid lockdowns, was created by linking the participants remotely. The project’s leader, Alex Roth, uploaded his guitar tracks for the invited musicians who then recorded their responses without having heard what others had done, other than James Allsopp (reeds) and trumpeter Arve Henriksen, who were sent Roth’s initial assemblages. Henriksen’s considered phrasing and remarkable tone (he can make the trumpet sound like a soprano sax or an oboe) beautifully suffuse the Reactor Suite, which evokes a range of musical genres yet somehow coheres convincingly. (Superpang SP154) ★★★★

The riffling ostinato threaded through the opening track of To Vanish, the latest release from Trichotomy, reminds me of some of Steve Reich’s classic Minimalist pieces of the 1970s, and these echoes crop up throughout the album. The basic trio is augmented by Danny Widdicombe (pedal steel guitar), Thomas Green (keyboards) and Nicole Tait (bassoon). It’s as good as anything they have ever done, not least in the high standard of compositions. It’s atmospheric and lyrical, and beautifully recorded and performed. (Earshift Music Ear070) ★★★★

I’m not sure how comfortably Mirage fits into the jazz category, though there are undoubtedly plenty of jazz influences and guest artists from that genre, including pianist Bugge Wesseltoft. Whatever, it’s an impressive and thoroughly riveting album by Oslobased guitarist Lilja (full name Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir). Alongside those jazz elements there are guest artists from Brazil, Morocco, South Asia (some great sitar playing by Ashraf Sharif Khan) and Sápmi folk from the Northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and part of north-west Russia. Lilja’s distinctive vocals are haunting in all senses of the word. (Jazzland 3775940) ★★★★

It’s A Matter of Fact was inspired by woodcuts created by Paul Dunmall and Pete Lawrence, working improvisationally and turn by turn. The resulting music is realised by the Paul Dunmall Ensemble, eight masters and mistresses of improv, including legendary vocalist Julie Tippetts. ‘Calling the Spirits’ opens with a loping, stalking, bluesy ensemble sequence which breaks out into a freer format with solos but still underpinned by the ghost of the material derived from the opening passages. This presages the routine from then on, free playing co-habiting creatively with occasional episodes of almost classic big-band swing in a manner recalling Mike Westbrook’s Release, and that’s high praise in my book. (Discus 148CD) ★★★★