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Pete Downes Trio

PD3 with Dick Pearce Live

Wiser Productions WPCD0004

Recorded live at the Pizza Express in Dean Street, in April 2006, this album captures guitarist Pete Downes's trio (bassist Andy Coe, drummer Tim Bruce) playing with one of the UK's most accomplished soloists, trumpeter/flugelhorn player Dick Pearce.

As on PD3's previous recording, Into the Blue, the material is a judicious mix of well-known post-bop jazz staples (Herbie Hancock's 'Canteloupe Island' taken at a delicious pace and given a faint 'dub' feel at its conclusion, the same composer's classic 'Watermelon Man', Benny Golson's irresistible 'Killer Joe', Marcus Miller's Miles vehicle 'Tutu', 'So What' by the man himself and a funky visit to Monk's 'Straight No Chaser' Æ also on Into the Blue) and the odd original, plus an arrangement of Mozart's 'Requiem'.

In Pearce, though, PD3 have found an ideal complement to their surefooted, funky sound: balancing faultless double-time runs with spearing long-held notes, the trumpeter is in top form throughout the hour-long selection, his solos providing a fascinating textural contrast to Downes's spangly eloquence.

The recording quality also deserves a mention: the group sound is captured in all its vibrancy and the balance is perfect; overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, immediately appealing album.