Fraser Fifield, Secret Path ***

Low whistle, keys and drums isn't a combination we have reviewed this year. Or last year for that matter either. The likelihood of another album of this kind landing in 2023 is fairly small although who can rule it out? You could, then, reasonably enough claim that what whistler Fraser Fifield, keyboardist Paul Harrison - check Harrison on Debra Salem's evocative In A Sma Room (2021) - and drummer Tom Bancroft have combined to deliver on Secret Path is unique.

Emblematic of a rich vein that feeds into Scottish jazz - although really the jazz language here is mainly coloured by the chief musically lingual input which is far more pervasively traditional Scottish music - the influence of Scottish sounds that Fergus McCreadie tapped on albums like 2018's Turas is a factor in what makes music making north of the border a creative universe in itself.

Following busy tightly disciplined patterns of decorative flourishes and melodic runs, Bancroft, who was a significant influence in shaping Scottish jazz most particularly when he ran the Caber label in the 1990s, adds a lot of energy and guides the whistle line expertly. The quiet ache of 'A Day Like Any Other' is a highlight of these 8 very melodic pieces mainly written Fifield says in the notes as recently as December last year. The dervish quality you get on 'East of Leith' adds a dimension that looks far beyond Scotland and helps make the album outerfacing rather than being too parochial. Paul Harrison on Wurlitzer particularly on 'Falling Awake' adds another entry point (and provides one of the jazziest solos on 'A Day Like Any Other') and yet the tunes thrive most in the interplay between whistle and drums.

There is a lovely tone to the whistle in Fifield's hands. Also known as a fine bagpipe player and saxist Fifield gets over the fact that the instrument can't do big loudnesses or bend notes any way nearly as much as a saxophone can. And overblowing or deliberate false fingering can't work at all in the same way. Clearly a virtuoso, his mastery of the instrument shows. Bancroft's introductory bars solo at the beginning of 'Gita' add a new impetus while the ache of 'Waltzed In' changes the feel again and takes some of the heat out of a busy sound. There is a knowingness on 'Not This Nor That' which is another of the jazziest things here. Secret Path in the title refers to a spiritual self discovery treatise by Paul Brunton first published in 1934. Out now on digital formats for streaming and download

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So where were we…? The last time we checked out Freeness was a couple of years ago. You know what to expect so that's why we haven't been in a while. It's like that with a lot of jazz shows on the BBC right now, that says a lot for their strong identities - but also given huge choice away from the Beeb all are gazumped by online non-radio action given a need for topicality and less of a need for magazine type presentations. (Solution? Have a live to air jazz show more regularly freshly researched and nimble enough to pick up on actually what's happened in the week prior to broadcast). Nevertheless Freeness like all jazz shows on the BBC hampered by a lack of marketing and very low presence within their overall promotional music show profile is the best jazz radio show not just for avant-gardists (it's in a constituency of one in that regard) mainly because it reminds us of the Derek Drescher produced Brian Morton presented avant-garde show Impressions which has never been bettered on Radio 3. More broadly if you think of the spectrum of jazz radio shows on the BBC in terms of a popular taste vs avant garde esoterica diagram it lies left field acres of graph paper space away from its complete opposite over at the crossover nu jazz ravey davey DJ culture end where Gilles Peterson on 6 Music holds court. And yet by his hipster standards the devoted Gooner is changing taste wise - and yet don't hold your breath though that Gilles will be Stoked by spang-a-lang just yet or giving ''Amazing. Killer. Monster'' feedback as he sets aside a special programme shaped around Alan Barnes' Sherlock Holmes Suite quite yet. Ah, the hush puppy years surely beckon soon. The modern mainstream of J to Z tape measures the bulging middle, aided alongside by the ever bubbly Jamie Cullum catering for a 30, 40 and 50-something listenership attuned to jazz vocals on Radio 2 dipping their toes into jazz maybe for the first time. And then completely away from this sizable range on another spreadsheet entirely a host of heritage tastes dictated by the penchant of got-in-touch listeners in the show's still game pensioner demographic - a different kind of freedom pass operating there - on Jazz Record Requests, a satisfied & scarily well informed nod to jazz long before a time the parents of most DJs on Radio 1 have even been thought of let alone born. Corey Mwamba's academic rigour as a presenter and don-like cajolings also benefits the deep discussions Freeness delves into and insouciantly revels in. The show began in November 2019. This latest sampling has a giant shadow cast upon it given the recent passing of German free jazz icon Peter Brötzmann. Saxophonist and flautist Zoh Amba also features in this episode interestingly. The show includes a slice of classic Evan Parker that we reviewed last month. Tune in here

Fraser Fifield, Secret Path ***

Radio review - Freeness, BBC Radio 3