Oriole – Every New Day
(F-IRECD 51. CD Review by Chris Parker)

Oriole’s leader/composer Jonny Phillips wrote much of the music on this, the octet’s third album, in Cadiz, and there is a gentle warmth and mellow beauty infusing all ten of his pieces here.

The band’s many admirers will know exactly what to expect by now: over Seb Rochford‘s elegant, shuffling latin rhythms (tellingly augmented by the percussion of Adriano Adewale), the smooth, gliding theme statements of saxophonists Ingrid Laubrock and Idris Rahman, underpinned by cellist Ben Davis, give way to laid-back solos from Phillips himself (on acoustic guitar), or to multi-textured, slow-building solos from the saxophonists, or to the pungent piano contributions of Nick Ramm.

Ruth Goller grounds the whole with her deft, full-bodied bass, and the result is an utterly beguiling, sweet but surprisingly lively sound, full of subtle nuances, but immediately accessible not just to jazz listeners, but also to lovers of latin music, from which Phillips’s insinuatingly lovely compositions typically draw their rhythms.

Winsome and charming – even dreamy – the overall impression may be, but Oriole’s music is none the less compelling for being so uncomplicatedly appealing.