The latest CD releases reviewed

CHRIS JENTSCH
Brooklyn Suite Fleur de Son ****

With this five-part suite, Jentsch reveals himself as a composer and orchestrator of considerable talent. Using a standard big-band format, the basic material for the suite was recorded live, with further textural effects, including line-doubling, added in post- production. But this says little about the skill Jentsch brings to bear on the process. He's adept at wringing orchestral colour out of motifs without obscuring their unifying effect with cluttered writing; the music has room to breathe, as do his soloists (himself included), whose rock-influenced guitar sound works in this context. What results is something that defies easy categorisation, occupying a space all its own, yet referencing jazz and rock influences, including Gil Evans, and pursuing an approach that transmutes short-form writing into thoughtful, satisfyingly detailed, purposeful, lengthy scores. www.fleurdeson.com

JON BALKE
Book of Velocities ECM ***

There's a Japanese watercolour technique of painting on thin, tightly stretched paper that puts a premium on speed and delicacy of thought and action; otherwise the paper will break. For his first solo CD - a big change for someone who works on much broader canvases - Jon Balke takes the same seize- the-moment idea and, figuratively speaking, applies it to the piano. Over four "chapters" and an epilogue, he finds a series of ideas and develops them within each section, using both orthodox and unorthodox techniques to push the boundaries for improvisation. He also explores the piano's sound, not only within the accepted parameters of use, but also, in effect, as a percussion instrument and as a harp. The result is a series of snapshots, which, though uneven and closer to contemporary classical music than jazz, retain an oddly compelling hold. www.musicconnection.org.uk

HENNING SIEVERTS
Symmetry Pirouet ***

A palindrome is a word or verse that reads alike backward or forward. Applying the format to music, in terms of line, harmony or rhythm - or all three, or combinations of some components - seems like an interesting if fraught idea. Bassist and cellist Sieverts took up the challenge, writing for himself, Johannes Lauer (trombone), Chris Speed (tenor/clarinet), Achim Kaufmann (piano), and John Hollenbeck (drums), with mixed results. Longer pieces (Luz Azul and All for One, One for All) allow for more creative input by the performers. But some pieces, such as Lion Oil, Bird Rib, Dr Awkward and the scalar Top Spot, finish before much is done with them, reinforcing the impression that, whatever charm they possess as miniatures, this is an exercise that is unduly constrained by its preset boundaries. www.pirouetrecords.com