JAZZ

Helena Kay’s KIM Trio: Moon Palace

Ubuntu Music

Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year in 2015, two years later tenor saxophonist Helena Kay scooped the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award, the prize helping to fund this impressive debut, with fellow Guildhall student David Ingamells on drums and double bassist Ferg Ireland. Five of the seven tracks are composed by Kay, including the opening L and D, which establishes the lithe dynamic within the trio, as well as the Jobim-inspired and elegantly unhurried Feijão, the expansive saunter of Strawberry Terrace and the inexorable development of the title track, richly toned by Kay and with well-pointed bass work from Ireland over flickering cymbals and drums. The two covers are a tersely bustling account of Charlie Parker’s Kim, with sax and drums bickering energetically, while she forsakes her rhythm section for an affectionately considered solo deliberation on Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust.