Album Reviews

Damon Albarn took British pop to new heights in the Nineties and then spent the next decade running away from it. As a result, we've seen diverse records from him, including Gorillaz, the virtual band he and Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett dreamed up. This third album stands shoulder-to-shoulder with anything Albarn has written in the past. There are guest spots for Bobby Womack and Mos Def (Stylo), Snoop Dogg (Welcome to the World of Plastic Beach) and is easily one of the best records you'll hear this year. PW

Secret Quartet: Bloor Street (Edition) (11.99)

Pianist Nikki Iles and altoist Martin Speake are at the heart of Secret Quartet, and their musical partnership is a fruitful one. This is

the long-awaited follow-up to their 2002 record, Secret, and it is contemporary jazz of a very high order. Iles and Speake have a very close rapport, her fluid and inventive piano lines and his light-toned but probing playing complementing each other admirably. There is plenty going on, but the atmosphere is of unruffled calm. Well worth a listen. AV

Zoot Sims: Zoot (Poll Winners Records) (9.99)

Here's the great Zoot in 1956 on a reissue that's part of a series of records awarded the coveted five-star rating in the venerated US magazine, Downbeat. Sims was one of the greatest of all tenormen, and his playing throughout is utterly delightful, effortlessly inventive and possessed of a weightless, irrestible swing as he motors through a programme of standards, ably supported by pianist Johnny Williams, bassist Nabil Totah and the wonderful Gus Johnson on drums. AV

Stile Antico: Media vita. Harmonia Mundi, HMU 807509 (13.99)

It has taken an age for the Tudor composer, John Sheppard, to emerge from the shadow of Thomas Tallis, but his distinctive art and craft is now universally admired. Some credit for that must go to British chamber choirs like Stile Antico, a 14-voice ensemble of impeccable technique. The recording is dominated by the large motet, Media Vita ("in the midst of life we are in death") a performance of sustained concentration and beauty. It is also good to hear some English motets again, fresh in delivery, powerful in impact. RC

Strauss: Don Juan, Staatskapelle Dresden. Sony 88697435542 (16.99)

It is hard to believe that only two years separate Richard Strauss's tone poem, Aus Italien, from Don Juan. The first, with its flawed finale, relies on Schumann, Mendelsson and Wagner; the second is a triumph of originality, technique and orchestration. The obscure Aus Italien has some lovely moments and prompts suitably sunny playing from the Italian conductor, Fabio Luisi. But the jewels here are Don Juan, in an ardent account, and Don Quixote, with solo cello playing of the highest class. RC