The conversational chamber jazz of the late great jazz percussionist Paul Motian is an evident spiritual ally on the recording debut of Phelan Burgoyne’s trio – an A-list aggregation led by the sonically adventurous Burgoyne, with his equally fast-rising guitar partner and Royal Academy of Music alumnus Rob Luft, and the Academy’s delicately eloquent sax professor Martin Speake on alto. Burgoyne’s work often connects to Motian’s encounters with Lee Konitz and guitarist Bill Frisell, on music of fragile cymbal sounds, knitting-needle skitters and woody drum-hits. There are shapely guitar/horn unison laments and lyrical train-rhythm synth loops, unceremoniously skewed by tone-bends and teased by sax whispers (Midnight Train to Malmö). Elsewhere, quietly strutting alto themes hum over country guitar chords and implacable backbeats. On Gree T, which opens with Luft’s slowly ringing notes and sliding-finger sounds, Speake’s keening tone spirals up out of the mist on Burgoyne’s whipcrack command, and he’s equally deft and resourceful on the country-dirgey Purple Z. It’s plain to hear why Burgoyne’s reputation has found its present momentum.
