(ACT)
Gwilym Simcock is an admirer of the remarkable Iiro Rantala, Finland's best-known jazz pianist, and you can hear why. Like the younger Simcock, Rantala's solo work draws on classical music as much as jazz, and fizzes with glittering contrapuntal playing, jaw-dropping juxtapositions of fast basslines and right-hand cascades, tantalising swappings of romantic rhapsodies and bluesy swing, and all kinds of other pianistic fireworks. Rantala has devoted this album to inspirations now passed, including Bill Evans, Jaco Pastorius, Esbjorn Svensson, Art Tatum and even Pavarotti. His touch is flawless, particularly on silvery, caressing melodies such as his dedication to Pekka Pohjola, the slow, liquid expansion of his waltz to Evans or his meditation on Svensson. But it's the bass-note thunder of pattern-based pieces such as the stomping Pastorius tribute played entirely at the low end, the strutting dance of Thinking of Misty or the Tatumesque stride-piano account of the bebop classic Donna Lee that unleash all the pianist's upbeat power. It could be flashy, but it's lovingly done.
alexander mcqueen casey johnson corey haim paul gray peter steele
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