Lynne Arriale: Live at Montreux (TCB)
This is possibly the best album yet from this most consistent of pianists. Perhaps it's the setting - the Montreux Jazz Festival last year - as much as her growing artistic maturity, but there's a focused, creative tension to these performances which gives them a palpable edge. Comparison with the same material done on earlier albums - Alone Together, With Words Unspoken, Seven Steps To Heaven, the brilliant Think Of One - reinforces that impression. There's also the remarkable drumming of her long-time colleague, Steve Davis, and the gifted bassist, Jay Anderson, especially when the trio hits glorious grooves on Estate and Calypso, and encore with a lyrical An Affair To Remember. Delicious.
Ray Comiskey
Dianne Reeves: In The Moment (Blue Note)
Reeves is an astonishing singer - phenomenal range, no break between registers, crystal clear on top, full and warm in the bottom, impeccable intonation, time and phrasing, with a gospel element that allows her access to everything from that and jazz to rhythm'n'blues. But she uses these assets to dominate her material more than interpret it; live, as on this, she's not so much a singer as a force of nature. Backed by a Brazilian-inflected small group that fits her like a glove, she does give affecting expression to Bridges and The Best Times, but pummels Cole Porter's Love For Sale to death; other songs are also brought to heel, if not quite so emphatically. Strictly for fans.
Ray Comiskey