For all exasperated jazzers who wish that the lyrical focus and grace of the 1950s Cool School, or the restrained long-melody style of Lennie Tristano were revisited more often by young artists, British alto saxophonist Allison Neale is the answer. Neale loves the airy sound and understatement of such alto stars as the late Paul Desmond and Art Pepper, and the less-is-more seductiveness and foxy themes of the classic west-coast approach. She’s joined here (on a collection of songs including How Little We Know, Cole Porter’s So in Love and Tristano’s serpentine 317 East 32nd St) by an ideally attuned group including Scott Hamilton drummer Steve Brown and, on four tracks, the young, Milt Jackson-inspired vibraphonist Nathaniel Steele. Neale mingles her soft sound with Art Pepper’s steeliness and emphatic attack against Leon Greening’s firm piano chordwork on the title track, then descends to a deeper purr for The Breeze and I over Steve Brown’s Latin-shuffle rimshots. So in Love – taken at a sprint – reveals how shrewdly this lyrical improviser balances assertion and insinuation.
