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Jim Hart's Gemini

Narrada

Loop Records LOOP 1010

Taking its name from the Bodmin Moor settlement upon which vibraphone player Jim Hart's parental farm stands, this album features three Vortex regulars – alto player Ivo Neame, bassist Jasper Høiby, drummer Dave Smith – alongside the composer/leader, recently described as 'one of the brightest stars on the UK European jazz scene' by John Surman.

Both his writing and playing justify this high praise on this rousing album, which consists in the main of driving, vigorous themes just complex enough to engage the brain, but sufficiently groove-based to enable the pleasingly dry-sounding Neame, the tumultuously vibrant Hart himself and occasionally Høiby and Smith to stretch out on them in their solo roles.

There are stylistic nods to both the old and new New York scenes in the Bill Frisell-inspired 'Crunchy Country' and 'Four Little Words' and the title track respectively, the latter two apparently influenced by John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet.

Overall, though, Hart is very much his own man, his compositions revealing the singular talent that has made his many Vortex appearances such a treat in recent years. Recommended.