When he was still a student jazz pianist with the fledgling Empirical, Kit Downes was already declaring that jazz meant for him an opportunity to mingle all kinds of music, rather than pursue a specific style. Seven years and much acclaim later, he’s extended that conviction all the way to Tricko, the chamber-music duo he shares with contemporary-classical cellist Lucy Railton. They’ve played this repertoire live, but since it can be restlessly sharp-angled as well as tranquil, the recording reveals implications not always clear on stage. The busy Jinn, for instance – juggling quietly prodding chords and feverishly wriggling resolutions – reveals elegant inner symmetries here. The Ravel-inspired Alliri is similarly capricious yet shapely, the title track alternates a prancing rhythm with a lazily swimming feel, and Inho recycles a subtly lengthening motif and sounds as if it’s shrouded in mist. It’s only conventional jazz in passing glimpses, and Tricko won’t be a license to print money, but this is eerily inviting, gracefully cutting-edge music.
