5 on OnePirouet *****

Contactis Dave Liebman (tenor/soprano), John Abercrombie (guitar), Marc Copland (piano), Drew Gress (bass) and Billy Hart (drums), a stellar line-up who bring their disparate personalities, and not their egos, to the music.

The contrasts between, to oversimplify, the astringent Liebman and the more reflective Copland and Abercrombie, in particular, enriches rather than compromises each performance’s unity; it’s like seeing an object illuminated from several points of view. Considerable improvisers all, they share a collective sense of the dramatic arc of what they’re doing, carried through with a deceptive fluency that belies the intense dialogue and shifts in focus as each colours the canvas.

Performances of such originals as Childmoon Smile, Lost Horizon, Retractable Cell, Lullaby for Imkeand Like It Never Wasconstantly reconcile surprise and inevitability. See pirouet.com