The latest releases reviewed.

LEE KONITZ/OHAD TALMOR Portology OmniTone ***

First things first: at 80, Konitz is in splendid solo form on this outing with the Portuguese big band, Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos. All the material, apart from his old Sound Lee (based on Too Marvellous for Words), is co-authored by Konitz and Talmor, who orchestrated the pieces. Talmor's writing is complex; rhythmically and in terms of colour and counterpoint, it is difficult. And while the band play it serviceably, they doesn't give a sense of mastery over his scores, particularly the elaborate writing and form of the kaleidoscopic June '05, or on Ornetty, September 11th and even Sound Lee. The band sounds more comfortable with A New Ballad and the well-constructed Relative Major, and most of all with the more straightforward Rhythm Sweet. But Talmor's writing always holds interest, and the star does what stars do: shines. www.OmniTone.com RAY COMISKEY

BENNIE MAUPIN The Jewel in the LotusECM ****

This is the first time on CD for a long-unavailable collectors' item. With The Jewel in the Lotus, Maupin, the great multireedman, produced something visionary and, for some perhaps, joltingly unexpected: a series of mostly rubato aural paintings using piano, electric piano, bass, three drummers (with doubles on marimba and percussion), multitracked saxophone, bass clarinet and flute, and trumpet on two tracks. The music is highly structured, even, paradoxically, in its free passages, and often beautiful, by turns devotional or trancelike (Ensenada, Winds of Change, Song for Tracie Dixon Summers), airy (The Jewel in the Lotus), melancholy (Past Is Past), and as agitatedly abstract as a Jackson Pollock (Mappo, Excursion). Soloists include Herbie Hancock and Maupin, but this is a composer's work; ad libs and interplay notwithstanding, the ensemble is paramount. www.musicconnection.org.uk RAY COMISKEY

RUSSELL MALONE Live at Jazz Standard Volume Two MaxJazz ***

Malone and his working band, with Martin Beijerano (piano), Tassili Bond (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums), match and at times surpass the calibre of their first live album. The level isn't consistent - both How About Me? and Playground are no more than smoothly accomplished, the closing Buzz is too fast for coherence, and the spontaneously created Don't Point That Over Here is free improv by essentially tonal players. But there is a real sense of discovery elsewhere. The quartet engages fully and exuberantly with a driving Malone original, Mugshot, and a joyously graceful Theme from Gunsmoke in 3/4. But the jewel in the crown is Malone's long solo on For the Love of You, a flowing stream of ideas, judiciously contrasted single note lines and chordal passages, which finds the brilliant guitarist at his best. www.maxjazz.com RAY COMISKEY