Contemporary jazz nowadays rarely falls into familiar patterns, and getting the hang of something new is part of the fascination. Trish Clowes’s fourth album defines its own terms in a particularly listener-friendly way. There is, for instance, a piece dedicated to the early jazz drummer Baby Dodds that cleverly hints at the ancestral connection between jazz drumming and tap dancing. Another, In Between the Moss and Ivy, conjures the atmosphere of an English country garden. With just four players, the variety of tone colour is quite remarkable, and the playing of Clowes on tenor and soprano saxophones, Ross Stanley (piano and organ) Chris Montague (guitar) and James Maddren (drums) is impeccable.
