Work Money Death, Thought, Action, Reaction, Interaction, Ata Records ***

Immediately into the spiritual jazz domain on opener 'At Once Familiar' so on a UK level if you are into Nat Birchall this is for you - international readers it's a Pharoah vibe, and very nicely arranged with harp and woodwind tones that has the earthy tenor sax lead keeping it real. From the north of England it's Leeds scenester tenorist Tony Burkill with bassist Neil Innes, drummer Sam Hobbs, Chris Dawkins on guitar and Gareth Wilkins on harp plus horns core in the sound and with stimulating spoken word from KOG, Kweku of Ghana, all swirling meaningfully in the cosmic vamp-heavy mist.

Burkill back in 2017 released the rousing Work Money Death with some of the same personnel.

'Freedom as a Heartfelt Song' meanders a bit to be fair but taking your time - and lighting a few joss sticks while eyeing a bloody big bong as you listen - is all part of the process. 'Song of Healing' opens with a serene Wilkins touch, there's an Indo flavour and Burkill experiments with distortion and is more Albert Ayler-like here which is interesting. 'Same As Before' has the ''spatial reality'' spoken word element and the bass riff practically chants along within the dotted-by-livewire percussive groove. Pretty good overall - more please soon. Out today

Tony Burkill, photo: press

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Approaching this with no expectations I was hooked, pun intended, from beginning to end. Di Martino is an Italian guitarist hailing from Naples whose style and tunes are pretty original within the idiom the album lands in - traversing terrain that begins in a sort of John Abercrombie-like idyll and moves into the land of Julian Lage ever more - you will probably dig Di Martino a lot too for a rootsy laconic slowed way down cool flavour that permeates convincingly. The guitarist who is very restrained but teases as if he is about to explode on 'Nostalgia' is with a very subtle bassist and drummer. And the way via hypnotic chorus after chorus and certainly not a stagey young fogey approach at all Di Martino say on '200 km' can suddenly pitch bend and move the trajectory into another realm is so stimulating.

The bassist is Aldo Capasso who takes a good solo on 'Nostalgia' and drummer - Marco Gagliano. The pair appeared on the Pucciarelli Group's Uplift (Ubuntu) released earlier this year. The crucial thing is that the album works as a complete listen, you don't have to cherry pick at all. Seek this out asap. SG

Igor Di Martino, photo: Sara Borrelli

Work Money Death, Thought, Action, Reaction, Interaction, Ata Records ***

Igor di Martino trio, Out of Addiction, Glocal Music ****