Jean Toussaint - Live in Paris & London (2009)

THE UK-based American saxophonist was a regular visitor to Scotland in the 1990s, but has rather slipped off my radar in this decade. On this evidence, he sounds a more mature and adventurous musician these days.

This disc has four recordings from Paris in 2004 and three more from London in 2008. Both featured the same quartet with pianist Andrew McCormack, bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Troy Miller. Benet McLean took over on piano in London for the one cover version, Monk's Round Midnight, and two of the selections from Paris also feature Jérôme Barde on his self-made "bardophone", a modified guitar.

Toussaint had early and formative connections with Art Blakey that are reflected in the vibrant bop-derived bedrock of the music, but with a more contemporary, risk-taking approach to group interaction and complex rhythmic shifts.