Stacey Kent's relatively new pianist Art Hirahara on 'Zero Hour' has the knack of painting a picture with relatively few resources to hand. Only the easel of piano and a small number of brushes and tubes of paint are the raw materials: in human terms the Mingusian bassist Boris Kozlov and Frisellian drummer Rudy Royston with Bowie-ite Donny McCaslin cropping up on 6 of the 11 tracks. View Verdant Valley as a trio record-plus rather than a quartet record because among other reasons the title track is a trio record and the key thing about that track is that Kozlov himself paints with arco bass and makes his bass sound quite cello-like given the warmth of the timbre if not quite the tonal sound or register. McCaslin on sax is a treat on 'The Shadowist' the piano of Hirahara following the McCaslin line closely. Produced by Marc Free - Hirahara is a familiar figure in Free's Posi-Tone back catalogue. If you are an Ahmad Jamal fan then this is for you but there are other good reasons too because the tunes make sense and McCaslin's passion say on 'Symbiosis' swerves away from complacency. Not at all demanding as a listen - it is rewarding just the same. SG

Art Hirahara, photo: Posi-Tone