unpredictability. There is scope for Oddjob to develop further yet two very strong frontline personalities in Kajfes and the steely Johansson as well as sharp injections of funk riffology amid bursts of spooky comet trails of electronic noise make for an artful foray into impressively moody, slightly noirish waters. Kevin Le Gendre

Radio String Quartet Vienna and Klaus Paier Radiotree ACT 9473-2 | ★★★

Bernie Mallinger, Johannes Dickbauer (vln), Cynthia Liao, Asja Valcic (clo) and Klaus Paier (acc; bdn). Rec. date not stated

Just as a successful first novel can be something of a curse for a writer, then RSQ must have contemplated their follow-up to their brilliant debut of Mahavishnu tunes with foreboding. Their answer was a clever piece of musical prestidigitation by inviting accordion and bandoneon player Klaus Paier into their world, and the result is both well crafted and ingeniously conceived. Paier brought six compositions with him, arranging them with a quintet in mind rather than a string quartet plus guest. The result is both organic and imaginative, ‘Flyup’ is all brio and éélan, but soon subsides into a brooding pianissimo before swelling and subsiding again – the use of and control of dynamics impressive. ‘Musical Journey in Three Movements’ opens with insistent of arco phrases with deft pizzicato accents, with Paier’s accordion blending into the spirit of the quartet. Their fellow countryman Joe Zawinul is saluted with three of his compositions, the most impressive of which is ‘In a Silent Way’ in an album that seems to get better each time you listen.

Stuart Nicholson

Zoe Rahman Trio Live Manushi Records MANUCD003 | ★★★★

Zoe Rahman (p), Gene Calderazzo (dr), Oli Hayhurst (d-b) with guest Idris Rahman (clt) on ‘Muchhe Jaoa Dinguli’. Rec. 14 April 2007

The jazz world is hardly exempt from new business models and alternative ways of doing things. Liveis a case in point. It is a full-length, eight-track recording capturing a very hot Zoe

Zoe Rahman

Rahman Trio in full flight. It is available at their gigs rather than through the usual outlets. It was recorded almost a month to the day before she and her brother Idris began the sessions for Where Rivers Meet (2008) but you’d never guess it. The trio doesn’t essay one single repertoire item from Where Rivers Meetthat they are about to go into the studio record. Nor does it look backwards much. There is nothing from The Cynicalbum and the only material from Melting Potis her own ‘Last Note’ – the exit – and Hemant Mukherjee’s ‘Muchhe Jaoa Dinguli’. What stands out is Live’s unashamed acknowledgement of past destinations. Joanne Brackeen gets two workouts with ‘Friday 13th’ and the full-tilt ‘Egyptian Tune Dance’ (which is faded out...). But it is Rahman’s love of Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim that really shines forth with ‘The Stride’ and ‘Tuang Guru’. On both her piano style adopts a different kind of flowing muscularity. On ‘Tuang Guru’ the Trio becomes a wondrous percussion instrument before Idris Rahman’s clarinet serenely emerges out of the storm on ‘Muchhe Jaoa Dinguli’. Phineas Newborn’s ‘Harlem Blues’ with its allusions to spirituals is the epitome of wit and Calderazzo’s shifting drum solo dovetails perfectly with the tenor of the piece. Ken Hunt

Howard Riley Three Is One ASC CD98 | ★★★

Howard Riley (p). Rec. 9 and 10 July 2007

Howard Riley is one of few musicians, who can use this approach and produce such exceptional artistic results. Other pianists have overdubbed piano and then used it as a means for further extemporisation. Paul Bley and Bill Evans spring immediately to mind. But this is something else. This is the second time Riley has recorded with three pianos, the other being Trisect (1980). Essentially, an improvisation is laid down, then a further one overdubbed as a response to the previous performance and finally a third is added but this time has to deal with two now pre-existing improvisations. I find the cognitive and creative complexity of this quite mind-boggling. That it leads to music as fine and as intense as this, beggars belief. What’s more is that these seven tracks succeed in conveying a wide range of emotions and mood states. Finest of all are the two longest pieces, ‘Still Life’ and ‘Haunted’, that develop through suitelike sections to powerful and haunting effect. At times, Three Is Onerecalls Conlon Nancarrow, the American composer whose piano pieces were so complex that he created piano rolls so that they could actually be performed. Yet, the sense on, for example, ‘Unbeatable or Heroes’, is of order and structure rather than of chaos. Best appreciated on head-phones, this is a remarkable work. Duncan Heining

Michele Rosewoman and Quintessence The In Side Out Advance Dance Disques ADO 353-2 | ★★★

Rosewoman (p, kys, v), Mark Shim (ts, programming),

Miguel Zenon (as), Brad Jones (b, el b), Derek Phillips (d), David Fiuczynski (d), Josh Roseman (tb), Olu Femi Mitchell (v) and Pedro Pablo Martinez (perc, v). Rec. 2006

Creator of a couple of very interesting records for Enja back in the late-1980s, Rosewoman has a pedigree that any improvising musician would be proud of. Although her profile has been frustratingly low over the past decade or so, she is still making accomplished music, as this release shows. Rosewoman’s writing has always been a complex matrix of unusual time signatures, cutting rhythms and mazy melodic lines that blur boundaries between various schools in jazz. Elements of bebop, New Music and Afro-funk organically coalesced and Rosewoman goes further down the road of that ecumenical approach on this new set that finds her in the company of a band of strong personalities. ACuban bata beat is perhaps more prominent than before, taking the music into similar territory as that broached by the likes of Omar Sosa. Yet Rosewoman, as the title of the record suggests, is perhaps more drawn to hardy experiments with dissonance and atonality than the aforementioned. The whole point is that there’s a finesse with which the spikes emerge in the harmony; a good example being ‘With You In Mind’, a piece with a zig-zag sequence of chords that nonetheless retains a graceful, if not tender character. Superior accompanists ensure that the standard of playing is high all round and a subtle incorporation of Midi technology brings a sonic freshness to the table. An album that shows Rosewoman is still very much a force to be reckoned with in contemporary jazz, her eclectic vocabulary creating a fusion that is resoundingly devoid of clichéé or superficial pyrotechnics. Kevin Le Gendre

Joe Sample and Randy Crawford No Regrets Emarcy | ★★★

Randy Crawford (v), Joe Sample (p, ky) plus various personnel. Rec. date not stated

This follow-up to their 2006 album Feeling Good offers a similarly appetising gumbo of soul, jazz, gospel, pop and blues. The album starts strongly with ‘Everyday I Have The Blues’, ‘Today I Sing The Blues’ and a sublime reworking of ‘Respect Yourself’. The duo then dusts down a swooning ‘with strings’ account of Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ and a sparkling version of a song popularised by Billie Holiday, ‘Me, Myself and I’. Following a slight wobble in the middle – strangely lacklustre readings of Crawford’s selfpenned ‘Just One Smile’, Ray Charles’ ‘Don’t Put All Your Dreams In One Basket’ and Phillip Mitchell’s oftrecorded ‘Starting All Over Again’ – the duo save the day with strong versions of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s wonderfully livedin ‘Lead Me On’ and Chip Taylor’s ‘Angel Of The Morning’. Neither musician nor singer stray too far from their comfort zone in the set, and there are few moments that set the pulse racing, but it’s all classily done.

Peter Quinn

50 OCTOBER2008 //Jazzwise

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