Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

A native of Northern Ireland who is now based in Del-Boy Trotter land, Paul Kimber has a burgeoning reputation as a virtuoso musician, being presently employed as co-principal double bass player with the orchestra of the English National Opera. Like many of his ilk, however, he likes to let his hair down musically from time to time, and his main pleasure, apart from being actively involved in contemporary church music, is improvisational jazz, which he writes for his quartet. This CD is nearly 50 minutes of very acceptable stuff; stylistically it's straightforward small group jazz, occasionally veering towards the Celtic when pianist/keyboardist Nick Lacey picks up his flute or piccolo, and there's also a touch of latino from time to time, courtesy of trumpet maestro Raul D'Oliveira. The fourth member of the quartet is drummer Phil Crabbe, who lays down a solid rhythmic platform; Paul chips in with fretless bass and guitars, and collectively everything blends to give a good, tight sound. The titles of the tunes give no clues as to the inspiration that caused them to be written (apart from the title track, which is a bit of a Celtic jig, and clearly a throwback to Paul's Irish ancestry), so my advice is simply to sit back and enjoy the music. If you're into this style of jazz, this will not disappoint.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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