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Tim Lapthorn
Seventh Sense
Basho SRCD 19-2
As
a follow-up to his well-received debut album, Natural Language,
pianist Tim Lapthorn has chosen to go for something more informal.
In his words, he decided to 'approach a number of new, unrehearsed tunes with a clean slate and try to tell a story through the improvisation rather than any complicated arrangements of the material'.
To this end, he spent a single afternoon in a studio with a top-class rhythm section Ð bassist Arnie Somogyi, drummer Stephen Keogh Ð and addressed a relatively conventional set (Monk's 'Bright Mississippi', Bill Evans's 'Laurie', Hoagy Carmichael's 'Skylark', plus familiar standards such as 'If I Should Lose You' and 'Come Rain or Come Shine' and the odd original) in as relaxed a manner as possible.
The result combines the spontaneity of a live performance with the practised cohesion that comes from the interaction of three musicians who know each other's playing well and who think on their feet. Lapthorn's ballad playing leavens a natural lyricism with just enough robustness to leave an individual stamp on familiar fare, and his originals are well designed to showcase a sparkling solo facility, at the climaxes of which he is frequently moved, Jarrett-like, to cry aloud; Somogyi and Keogh are smart, eloquent, supple yet vigorous throughout.
In short, an album with all the uplifting qualities Ð freshness and vitality, wit and panache Ð of a live club set, even down to the solo-piano 'encore', a version of 'I'm in the Mood for Love' that is just florid and discursive enough to put original wrinkles into the tune without distorting it with unnecessary showiness.
See Natural Language
