Album Reviews

The great swing era drummer is rather a forgotten man these days, so it's good to have this – one of the finest sessions he ever left on record. It finds Krupa at the head of a crack big band in 1958, playing arrangements by Mulligan that had been written a decade earlier. The band perform with zest and bite, pushed along by Krupa with crisp economy of style. Performances including Dis Jockey Jump, Mulligan Stew and Bird House sound as fresh as the day they were recorded. AV

Bob Brookmeyer/Zoot Sims: Tonite's Music Today (Poll Winners Records) 9.99

Brookmeyer and Sims were long-time musical partners and this excellent CD contains some inspired moments. Sims's light-toned, irrepressibly swinging tenor playing was ideally complemented by Brookmeyer's gruffness on valve trombone, and they breeze through a clutch of originals and some well-chosen standards with assurance. There are no dull moments, and plenty of top-drawer solos to savour. A bonus is the presence of the great Hank Jones on piano, providing the most sensitive support possible. AV

Butterworth: Songs from A Shropshire Lad/Folk Songs from Sussex (Naxos 8.572426) 5.99

The death of George Butterworth in the First World War, aged 31, robbed England of a composer with the musical stature of Vaughan Williams. His songs could well have been written for the baritone, Roderick Williams, a once a familiar face at Opera North. The songs speak of flirtatious love in an idealised pastoral setting and Williams' voice is beautiful. In the pianist, Iain Burnside, he has a perfect partner, and the sound quality is outstanding. A 'must not miss' release. DD

Miaskovsky: Nos. 1 & 13 (Ar Re-Se 2010-1) 13.99

Living at the same time as Prokofiev, but never receiving the same media attention, the disc containing his first and last quartets show a composer equally inventive and cramming his works with attractive melody. There is no angst but plenty of pungency and impact, the young French musicians of the Renoir Quartet, showing a natural affinity with the music. Their technique is immaculate, and deals superbly with the outgoing brilliance of the early score and the unusual sonorities of the Thirteenth. The sound quality is superb. DD