MARLBANK ALBUM OF THE WEEK FOR WEEK BEGINNING 26 JUNE 2023

''My hope is that people can find some sense of quiet reflection or poetry in listening to it; that they embrace the ebbs and flows and trial and error of everyday life that the music speaks to.’'

– Noah Stoneman

That hope Noah Stoneman making his debut here as a leader is effortlessly realised. Clearly a new piano voice emerges. It's not exactly a lightness of touch from the 22-year-old on opener 'Tomas and Tereza'. But there is that inescapable sense of floating transcendentalism in the piano line - like combined airy treble voices soaring from the body of a choir, the register the Londoner finds the space to illuminate a break in the clouds.

The enigmatically entitled Anyone's Quiet: Let It Rain To You certainly introduces a significant new presence on the UK acoustic modernistic jazz scene. It's been a while since someone as expressive came along. While less is more in its reflectiveness there is a certain grit in the trio's collective sound especially realised when Luca Caruso gains traction and the drummer finds a certain heat and multiplicity as the arc of the first piece is reached. The way Caruso press rolls into 'Borders' displays enviable technique reminiscent of a master technician like Martin France in the way he tackles that piece.

Produced by Kit Downes 'Evanesce,' while turned down, is not hush laden in a cough stifling sense - maybe there is subtle word play in the title on patron saint of all pianists in this style domain Bill Evans, who knows? - while 'Calm' is really a ballad where a left hand riff nudges the melody along through subtle gear shifts responded to by the drummer.

Stoneman's tunes are quite modal and there is a lot of colour in the often bright harmonies that avoid opaque abstraction and prefer instead a rhapsodic flourish without being too annoyingly decorative. If you like Bruno Heinen's approach this snugly fits that same sense of enlightened impressionism.

Recorded in Hornsey studio Livingston in north London the originals are what make this special. And the role of double bassist Will Sach is exceptionally subtle within the blend and the ensemble linchpin where the trio becomes more than a vehicle for expression and instead the entity takes on a presence of its own and becomes something of a muse. Looking for restorative balm? This fabulous interior peroration passionately ladles it on. SG

Stoneman launches the album at the Vortex on 11 July 3 days ahead of the official release date. 'Major' and 'Mourndoom' are streaming

Noah Stoneman, photo: detail from the 'Mourndoom' artwork