When the British pianist and composer John Taylor died suddenly last year, his 1990s work in a trio with the former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and bassist Palle Danielsson was treated as something of an afterthought in such a rich career. But the Erskine-led group had a unique sound and repertoire (Taylor’s chemistry of romantic pastoralisms and jazz drive was a key influence), and a rare collaborative alertness. This box packages all four of their ECM recordings between 1992 and 1997. Taylor’s darting, jig-like Clapperclowe sounds wonderful here with Erskine’s warm-toned pattering behind it; the drummer’s faintly Jarrettish On the Lake is a ballad highlight; Taylor’s devotion to Bill Evans’ ambiguously romantic harmonies surfaces frequently; there are gracefully straying collective conversations such as For Ruth and Glebe Ascending; and the freewheeling The Ant and the Elk (from the final album, Juni, in 1997), with Taylor’s fireworks bursting over Erskine’s crackling patterns and Danielsson’s plummy tone, shows how creatively this fine band abandoned early inhibitions over their five-year life.
