The latest CD releases reviewed

JIM HALL
The Complete "Jazz Guitar" Gambit *****

Thanks to producer Dick Bock's snip-happy editing, this seminal trio recording of Hall (guitar), Carl Perkins (piano) and Red Mitchell (bass) has a chequered reissue history; years later he even added drums. Finally, someone has cut through the morass of edits and lost tapes that have frustrated rescue attempts, by going back to the original, presumably unspoiled, LP release for transfer to CD. Major cuts to five tracks have been repaired, the "lost" This Is Always recovered and further confusions cleared up. And, with the trio in great form, the music still sounds freshly minted and deserving of its legendary status. Perkins, especially, is great, his blues choruses on Things Ain't... a classic statement. The bonus tracks, from unconnected sessions, are an irrelevance. Ray Comiskey

ROMAN SCHWALLER
The Thurgovian Suite TCB ***

Schwaller, a big-toned tenor in the Dexter Gordon mode, surrounded himself with a capable sextet for this well-planned essay in hard bop; Derrick Gardner (trumpet) and Adrian Mears (trombone) complete a powerful front line, with Oliver Kent (piano), Thomas Stabenow (bass) and Mario Gonzi (drums) fuelling a driving rhythm section. The suite, composed and arranged by Schwaller and inspired by associations with his youth and Swiss homeland, offers challenging material, but their responses make light of the often complex themes and arrangements. What emerges is not a dry, academic exercise, but a vibrant, surprisingly homogenous example of hard bop, uninhibited, authoritative, always aware of form and played with the kind of energy and technical assurance the idiom demands. www.musicconnection.org.uk  Ray Comiskey

THELONIOUS MONK
Monk in Paris: Live at the Olympia Thelonious Records ***

This re-release of material from the Monk family vaults catches the great and influential maverick with his working quartet, completed by Charlie Rouse (tenor), Larry Gales (bass) and Ben Riley (drums), in 1965. The band, notably Rouse and Monk, are in exhilarating mood on Rhythm-a-ning, I Mean You and Bright Mississippi in particular, and two solo piano sketches, Body and Soul and April in Paris, help to break the band's routine of theme, then solos from tenor, piano, bass and drums, which diminishes the group's impact. The release comes with a black-and-white DVD of the quartet in Oslo a year later, performing Lulu's Back in Town, Blue Monk and 'Round Midnight, with performances affected by the somewhat antiseptic setting. Limited camera angles don't help, but it has some historical interest. www.musicconnection.org.uk  Ray Comiskey