Latest releases reviewed

CHRIS POTTER  Lift  Universal  *****

Recorded at NYC's Village Vanguard two years ago, Potter is arguably the finest living jazz tenor. Leading a quartet completed by Kevin Hays (piano/fender rhodes), Scott Colley (bass) and the electrifying Bill Stewart (drums), he's dazzling, full of virtuoso-driven energy and imagination. And it's sustained; long takes on Stewart's 7.5 (count the bars!) and Potter's attractive originals What You Wish, Okinawa (on soprano) and Lift, show leader and group playing with unsparing individual and collective invention. The quartet's approach, and Potter's in particular, are summed up on Mingus's Boogie Stop Shuffle, where the leader's long, unaccompanied introduction and magisterial solo are worthy of Rollins in his prime. More light and shade in terms of album mood might have been better overall, but with Potter in this form it doesn't matter. Ray Comiskey

JEAN-MARIE MACHADO  Andaloucia  Le Chant du Monde  *****

Pianist, arranger and composer Machado adeptly extracts variety and drama from his quintet on this crisp, splendidly engaging marriage of jazz with Spanish folk and classical music. His deft use of contrasting timbres, lines and textures in generating direction and momentum is facilitated by the superior talent at his disposal: Andy Sheppard (soprano/alto/tenor); Claus Stötter, marvellous on trumpet (and, maybe, flugelhorn); Gary Valente, a modern, shaggy dog trombonist; and Machado himself as part of a fine rhythm section with Bart de Nolf (bass) and Jacques Mahieux (drums). Originals by the leader and a thoroughly jazz take on pieces by Albéniz, de Falla and Granados (themselves inspired by folk music), bring the best out of Sheppard, Stötter and Machado, with Valente's robust, tart trombone giving it all an edge. One to savour. www.harmoniamundi.com

Ray Comiskey

ANDY SCHERRER  Remember Mal Waldron  TCB  ****

Tenor saxophonist Scherrer leads a fine quartet in this persuasive tribute to Waldron, a much better pianist and composer than he was ever quite recognised for in his lifetime. With Detroit-born William Evans (piano), Isla Eckinger (bass) and Dré Pallemaerts (drums) utterly sympathetic, and Scherrer giving full rein to his absorbingly straight-ahead, Joe Henderson-like tenor, the group evokes Waldron's musical world without submerging their own individuality. There are some gripping performances here, especially The Seagulls of Kristiansund, a stately, beautiful piece; Duquility, Waldron's ballad tribute to Ellington; the more forceful Fire Waltz; and the uptempo Dancing on the Flames and Blood and Guts. Compelling. www.musicconnection.org.uk

Ray Comiskey