Classy pianist Frédéric Nardin - Fred Nardin - whose profile to Anglophone audiences is certainly less known than the expat US drummer Leon Parker here in the trio whose tenure on Columbia as a leader in the 1990s was superb and worth revisiting. Completing the line-up together for some five years who have put out a few recordings since starting up is Jerusalem-born bassist Or Bareket. As for Nardin he has been making records for around a decade as a leader and with his own co-founded Keystone big band and the pianist is a past winner of the Prix Django Reinhardt. 'Lost in Your Eyes' is the pick here from an elegant albeit very middle of the road modern mainstream player whose style certainly taps directly into the best traditions of acoustic jazz cloaked in bebop beginning on this album with a Monk classic 'Green Chimneys'. Parker adds a lot of spirit to the double album throughout. Nardin plays 'Nardis' - there's a thought. For Evans' sake regardless discover a player who the French are already justifiably proud of and who the wider world needs to catch up on pronto.
Fred Nardin photo: Philippe Levy-Stab
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