Allison Neale - Quietly There (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

It’s an alto saxophone sound rarely heard nowadays, cool but intimate, each phrase ending with a tiny shiver of vibrato, and no one deploys it with more delicacy or grace than Allison Neale. This is her musical voice, instantly recognisable, and it remains its calm, fluent self whatever the surroundings.

On this occasion her companions are Dave Green and Steve Brown on bass and drums respectively, and the celebrated New York guitarist Peter Bernstein, who appears to have recorded with everyone. His technique is amazing, using a seamless combination of single-line and chordal playing, and his harmonic ingenuity is endless.

In fact it gets a bit wearing after a while; an occasional touch of the simple and obvious wouldn’t have gone amiss. But there’s some marvellous jazz here, notably a version of Horace Silver’s Split Kick including an ingenious close-harmony theme statement and a clever duet improvisation by saxophone and guitar. There’s an even better one in Motion, which is perhaps the most exciting of the 11 tracks. As for classic ballads, which are a Neale speciality, there’s the unmissable I’m Glad There is You, serene and elegantly expressed, as always.

TRACKLIST

01. Allison Neale - Darn That Dream
02. Allison Neale - Midnight Sun
03. Allison Neale - Split Kick
04. Allison Neale - Quietly There
05. Allison Neale - I'm Glad There is You
06. Allison Neale - Motion
07. Allison Neale - Spring is Here
08. Allison Neale - Lollipops And Roses
09. Allison Neale - 2 Degrees East 3 Degrees West
10. Allison Neale - You Do Something to Me
11. Allison Neale - I Should Care



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