Jazz
April round-up
n the late-1950s, while the teenage Charles Lloyd was learning his trade on the Memphis blues circuit, a 17-year-old was working as a cigarette girl in New York’s Birdland jazz club. That listening education was the foundation for all that came after, from composing for large ensembles to playing in small groupscomprises three characteristically pungent Bley tunes, each one having three parts. The theme in the blue-washed title suite (inspired by a recent illness) is picked over by Bley, before Sheppard’s nimble tenor knits it up; Swallow’s signature electric bass patterns here are hypnotic. ‘Copycat’ is led out by pure, upper register curlicues from Sheppard’s horn while Bley mingles with Swallow’s sonorous bass lines. A masterclass in immersive, small-group jazz. (★★★★★ )
