Ray Comiskeyfinds five-star quality in Vince Mendoza and Bobo Stenson

CURTIS FULLER

The Opener

Blue Note

This late-1950s session is a reminder of the astonishing impact Fuller made as a rising young trombonist - and the fact that not every Blue Note album of that era was a classic.

Fuller was joined by Hank Mobley (tenor) on four tracks, and a Bobby Timmons-Paul Chambers-Art Taylor rhythm section, for a date with the feel of an old Prestige blowing session, albeit somewhat better organised.

Mobley, with the great statements of the early 1960s still to come, doesn't sound totally at ease with the rhythm section. It's one that suits Fuller, however, even if Chambers features heavily as a soloist, perhaps at Timmons's expense.

The standout performances are Here's to My Ladyand A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening, which showcase Fuller's gifts as a ballad player.

RAY COMISKEY

VINCE MENDOZA

Blauklang

ACT

The title means "bluesounds", and this five-part suite began with a painting of that name by Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Composer Mendoza's response, using guitar, trumpet, reeds, french horn, tuba, bass, drums, vibes, harp and string quartet, amounts to a magnificent aural picture by one of the great orchestral colourists in jazz.

The richly detailed writing is the embodiment of clarity, and the unifying use of motifs is brilliantly handled, notably on Movements IVand Vand - outside the suite - on Mendoza's lovely Ollie Mentionand the inventive re-texturing of All Blues.

There are other successes; Blues for Pabloshows a kindred with its composer, Gil Evans; Lo Rossinyol, a Catalan folk song, is given a hint of Americana; and the stately Habanerais sheer beauty.

The luminous talents making this one of the albums of the year include Nguyên Lê, Markus Stockhausen, Arkady Shilkloper, Lars Danielsson and Peter Erskine.

www.actmusic.com

RAY COMISKEY

BOBO STENSON

Cantando

ECM

Stenson's latest features the exceptional trio he has forged in recent years with his longtime bassist, Anders Jormin, and the young drummer, Jon Fält, who brings a fresh, subtle blend of colour and drive to the group's interplay.

The wide-ranging repertoire includes pieces by Jormin, Piazzolla, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Czech composer Petr Eben, Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, Alban Berg and a standard.

But the focused intimacy with which the trio handle it gives their work an air of unity and completeness - even the four remarkable free improvisations that comprise Pagesand both versions of Eben's gravely beautiful Song of Ruth, originally written for voice and organ.

They and performances as diverse as the stunning M, Chiquilin de Bachin, Oliviaand Berg's Liebesodehave a lyrical, spontaneously conceived order that is rare anywhere.

www.musicconnection.org.uk

RAY COMISKEY