Gwilym Simcock ‘Blues Vignette’ 2CD (Basho) 4/5
British pianist has been heard in recent times in a variety of contexts and this includes the excellent project with Tim Garland as part of the Acoustic Triangle that played at venues including Manchester Cathedral last year and in November a UK tour as leader that included the Royal Northern College of Music. He returns with a superbly crafted double CD that highlights two further facets to this multi-talented musician; a side of solo and duet pieces accompanied by cellist Cara Berridge; a trio side of largely self-composed pieces, but including three standards from the great American songbook. For the latter he is aided by his regular trio of British drummer James Maddren and Russian double bassist Yuri Goloubev and collectively they evoke the Keith Jarrett trio from the mid-1980s onwards. Simcock impresses throughout with his thorough grounding in the jazz tradition, but especially on ‘Tundra’ with its dramatic crescendo and on a bluesy rendition of ‘Black Coffee’. On the first CD the quasi-classical ‘Exploration of Movement II of Grieg Piano concerto’ receives both a refined and austere performance by the pianist while ‘On Broadway’ is a fascinating deconstruction of the tune that showcases Simcock’s dazzling technique and is worlds away from either the famous George Benson version, or even the Tito Puente Latin-jazz classic. Elsewhere Simcock takes a leaf out of the recent Enrico Pieranunzi solo album with solo improvisations. This is an outstanding recording that deserves to see Gwilym Simcock catapulted to international stardom. Tim Stenhouse
18/12