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Over the past decade or so Aberdeen-born guitarist Graeme Stephen has consolidated his position as one of the Scottish jazz scene's most imaginative composers and conceptualisers. His work with his sextet and his provision of soundtracks for silent movies have borne this out while his guitar style, taking its primary inspiration from the Jim Hall-Pat Metheny school of melodic improvisers into sonic experimentalism, has made each station of his career worth spending time with.
This latest outing didn't quite capture the creative flow of some of his other performances, but it boasted several classic Stephen moments, not least his epic solo building on the initially quiet Shut from his previous album, Vantage Points, and contained sufficiently strong hints in the newer pieces to suggest his imminent album, Tilt, should be well up to standard.
His liking for spacious, gradually unfolding compositions was helped here by the supple presence of Mario Caribe on both double-bass and bass guitar and drummer Chris Wallace's relaxed timekeeping and ability to add colour and atmosphere not just on his drum kit but also on various percussive devices. Alto saxophonist Martin Kershaw, who was depping for the advertised Julian Arguelles, made his presence felt with some keen soloing and his lovely shadowing of Stephen's guitar.
The dancing, lightly Latin American-metred Eye-Stream, from one of Stephen's earliest incarnations as a band leader, took the guitarist back to his Hall-Metheny roots and was a fine reminder of his ability to produce singing, well-thought-through and involving improvisations.
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