Latest releases reviewed

PETE LA ROCA
Basra
Blue Note 
*****

Long unavailable, this invigorating mid-60s leader debut by drummer La Roca owes as much to producer Duke Pearson's careful stewardship as it does to the calibre of the players he assembled and the quality of the music they made. La Roca was part of an outstanding rhythm section with Steve Swallow (bass) and Steve Kuhn (piano), but what elevated things to another level is the sublime tenor of Joe Henderson. He stamps his personality even on such a powerful trio, turning Malaguena into an almost sinister tour de force, negotiating the twists of La Roca's Tears Come from Heaven, sounding like a call to prayer on the single-chord Basra, or grooving on the latin blues of Candu. And, on a superbly remastered CD, he shows he can play it simple with a haunting Lazy Afternoon.

FLORIAN ROSS
Home & Some Other Place
Intuition
***

Pianist and composer Ross returns to a quintet format similar to his 1998 Naxos debut, Seasons and Places. Still with him are Matthias Erlewein (tenor) and the excellent Dietmar Fuhr (bass). Claus Stötter (trumpet and flugelhorn) is in for trombonist Nils Wogram, and drummer Stéphane Huchard replaces Jochen Rückert. The changes are significant. While Ross's pieces remain as musicianly as ever, Huchard is a less forceful drummer than Rückert, and Stötter, brilliant soloist though he is, is not as distinctive as Wogram. Erlewein is capable rather than notably individual, and the overall impression is of interesting, if somewhat restrained, music performed by superior craftsmen. www.harmoniamundi.com

GRÁINNE BROOKFIELD
Close Your Eyes
(No Label)
***

All of a sudden more young singers are revisiting the Great American Song Book. Making her debut is Gráinne Brookfield. Singing in a generally direct, uncomplicated manner, she turns in pleasant interpretations of I've Never Been in Love Before, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Girl Talk (with its now non-PC lyrics) and The Way You Look Tonight. Nicely backed by husband Mike on guitar, pianist and arranger Justin Carroll, bassist Paul Moore and drummer Myles Drennan, Brookfield sounds thoroughly at home. Tenor Michael Buckley adds his class to the difficult-to-like Wonderful World and a jumping Sing, Sing, Sing, while trumpeter Linley Hamilton plays beautifully on possibly the best track, My Ideal.

www.grainnebrookfield.com