Allison Au Quartet, Forest Grove

For contemporary jazz that has a little complexity, a little kick and some hardness within coolness, you might want to turn to Allison Au and her Quartet doing Forest Grove (AA-15). I may be a little late on this one, but my financial mess and move have gotten in the way...I apologize.

Allison never sounded better, with a sharply crisp alto and a bit of coolness but the post-Bird heat too of nicely phrased expressions. Todd Pentney on keys makes a crucial contribution in his comping and soloing. Jon Naharaj and Fabio Ragnelli (bass and drums, respectively) are busy with good ideas when called for, or laid back as needed. Felicity Williams adds her wordless vocals to three numbers and that makes good musical sense.

And Allison's originals (all nine numbers) are tunefully appropriate and modernly zinging.

In short all is well on this disk. It is a joyous outburst. Grab a copy.