El Barranco is the next chapter in the story UK saxophonist Tori Freestone launched on record in 2014, fascinating once again for the ways in which an exceptional improviser can spin new yarns from the most deliberately restricted of resources – just an unbugged sax, bass and drums. Freestone has an arresting Coltrane-inflected sound, and the ways she pulls and probes at the warmly melodious title track – stretching the tempo, retreating into murmurings, erupting into guttural split tones – typify her improv power. Celtic jigs come and go, the classic standard All or Nothing at All is unfolded simply but adventurously expanded; Cross Wired – a folk theme with a repeating vamp – confirms how fluid Freestone is at high speed, and bassist Dave Manington and drummer Tim Giles are flawlessly attuned. I prefer Ewan MacColl’s old vocal version of The Press Gang to Freestone’s closing violin/vocal version of this folk traditional, but otherwise this is a formidable improvisers’ showcase of reflectiveness and fierce intensity.
