Young Anglo-German quartet Paragon launch this album at The Crypt in London’s Camberwell on 31 October, and tour it until 4 November. It’s the work of four accomplished and highly compatible performers (saxophonist Peter Ehwald and bassist Matthias Akeo Nowak from Germany, Fender Rhodes pianist Arthur Lea and Kairos 4Tet drummer Jon Scott from Britain) who listen closely to each other, and create good originals from sources including John Coltrane ballads, Bollywood music, rhythmically devious postbop, and Latin grooves. The quality of the compositions, and Ehwald’s and Lea’s thoughtful improv inventiveness, put this a cut above many postbop workouts on similar materials. Fast-bop themes of wriggling springiness (Cerca de Ti, Bohdan) exhibit a park-on-a-dime precision, tone-poems such as the Coltranesque East to West and the mellifluous Linguise and Ballade display Ehwald’s sensitivity to nuance, and the band’s talent for tuning into it. Lea’s Delhi Belly sounds like Asian and Celtic music merged, North to South turns into a ducking-and-diving sax odyssey like the late Michael Brecker’s. The only drawback may be a slightly reined-in air – a live recording of this subtle music would be interesting to hear.
