Contemporary musicians don’t come much more graceful in sound or execution than Manu Katché, the French drummer/composer who has lent his unhurried elan to everyone from Peter Gabriel and Sting to Youssou N’Dour and Jan Garbarek. Unstatic is a more vividly varied set than his current jazz group’s 2012 debut, adding the pop awareness of young Norwegian bassist/vocalist Ellen Andrea Wang, and with Swedish jazz and funk trombonist Nils Landgren guesting. Katche is a gifted mixer of catchy idioms and improv surprises, defined from the off in the intro’s delightful, languidly snappy rhumba. Saxist Tore Brunborg and Arve Henriksen-like trumpeter Luca Aquino make an atmospheric horn pairing, and in funkier moods the band resembles a laid-back Headhunters, their striking themes spawning provocative new riffs as they develop. Brunborg brings a soul-sax rootsiness, and UK keyboardist Jim Watson is a constant spur, notably in his Fender Rhodes solo and the churning undertow of the hustling, uninhibited Ride Me Up. Warm, inviting, effortlessly skilful world-jazz.
