The four is the Guastalla string quartet and the three, the jazz trio led by pianist and composer Kate Williams. As the daughter of the great classical guitarist, John Williams, she was brought up in a world where boundaries between musical genres were always fluid, and that is certainly the case here. There is nothing forced or stilted in the combination. The trio plays with genuine swing; the quartet freely deploys its own natural dynamics. Of all the jazz-classical blends I have heard recently this is certainly the most convincing and enjoyable. And Kate Williams is a very good jazz pianist anyway – crisp, incisive and totally at one with the rhythmic ebb and flow.
