All That Jazz

BY SIMON ADAMS

REVIEWS

NINA SIMONE The Montreux Years (BMG).

Between 1968 and 1990, singer Nina Simone appeared five times at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival on the shores of Lake Geneva, sometimes accompanied simply by a small group, other times performing by herself.

This generous compilation of 29 songs brings together the best bits of those performances, at first mixing up the years and then focusing on her 1968 debut, all delivered with that inimitable mixture of classical poise, a deep feeling for the blues, and her ever impassioned vocals.

She was never an easy person, or comfortable in her own skin, but that just made her performances all the more commanding. There are lots of Simone albums out there, but this double CD set is one of the best.

VICTOR FELDMAN Four Classic Albums (Avid).

Victor Feldman was a British prodigy, an extraordinary vibes player and pianist who in 1955, at the tender age of 21, went to America and became a noted session musician, working with everyone from Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell – his are the luminous vibes on The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira – to Tom Waits. He even turned up on a Lulu album.

This collection brings together four great albums from the late 1950s: the classy and chic On Vibes, the septet and big band Suite Sixteen, an ahead-of-its-time meeting of jazz and Afro-Cuban beats on Latinsville!, and the straight ahead, swinging quartet of Merry Olde Soul.

Too easily in jazz we move on to the next new thing and forget the older masters. Feldman was an important British musician who deserves our full respect.

JOSHUA CAVANAGH-BRIERLEY Joy In Bewilderment (Ubuntu).

It takes a brave man to start his new album not with himself or his full band – a 12-strong ensemble with six horns and three drummers among them – but with a string quartet, playing with classical precision and commitment in a seven-minute piece that is both contemplative and edgy, and completely out of style with what is to follow.

But then Manchesterbased bassist and pianist Joshua Cavanagh–Brierley is nothing but adventurous. All the compositions on this, his third album, are composed and arranged by him, and he is not afraid to share honours around.

Punchy alt-rock and fusion pieces are interspersed with a solo piano outing by the leader and a lengthy vocal track by Caoilfhionn Rose Birley. Even American saxophonist Chris Potter makes a guest appearance. It is all a bit breathless, but all the more enjoyable for it.