Latest releases reviewed

KERRY POLITZER  Labyrinth  Polisonic  ****

Pianist/composer Politzer is making a name for herself as one of the cannier talents on the New York scene, a reputation emphasised by this ebullient, intelligent, warm and well-structured amalgam of jazz and Brazilian influences. Brilliantly supported by bassist Chris Higgins, George Colligan (better known as a pianist, but here a fine drummer) and, on four tracks, a superb Andrew Rathburn on tenor and soprano, she's an imaginative, concise and expressive soloist with a full-bodied touch. No Rubicons crossed here, but there's a vibrancy and individuality about the results that suggest she knows what she wants from herself and her colleagues, and has the technique, lyric inventiveness and nous to get it. www.kerrypolitzer.com Ray Comiskey

PETER EPSTEIN/BRAD SHEPIK/MATT KILMER Lingua Franca Songlines  ****

This splendid, strikingly enjoyable cultural cross-pollination is a kind of free range music drawing its primary nourishment from India, the Middle and Far East, Spain and the Caribbean, seasoned with some jazz elements. Themes have little or no harmonic movement, placing considerable demands on the performers' linear and rhythmic ideas. The interest, therefore, has to come from the trio's playing: Epstein, marvellous on alto and soprano, Shepik, supplying a considerable range of texture on guitars, and Kilmer, brilliant as a percussionist. They're so mutually attuned that solos are as much three-way dialogues as anything else and, as a result, their compelling ability to groove is constantly refreshed with incident and colour. www.songlines.com

Ray Comiskey

LINCOLN CENTER'S AFRO-LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA Noche Inolvidable Palmetto ****

Led by pianist Arturo O'Farrill, the Lincoln Center's ALJO is in gripping form on this live date from early last year. The orchestra is big, precise - just hear them develop three separate riffs in counterpoint - and powerful, and includes saxophonist Bobby Porcelli, trumpeters Michael Philip Mossman and Joe Magnarelli, and trombonists Luis Bonilla and Doug Purviance, plus a fine singer in Claudia Acuña and an outstanding one in Herman Olivera. Its sheer collective ebullience is infectious and, although it doesn't get enough opportunities to do so here, its ability to strike a groove and build it to almost hallucinatory levels of intensity is never far from the surface. And its idiomatic authenticity is not in doubt. www.palmetto-records.com

Ray Comiskey