Heartbeat

Winkelman's sixth album as a leader, recorded during the pandemic whilst awaiting the birth of his first child, is quite delightful. Nine originals that don't appear to be contrafacts although these tunes themselves could become contrafacts of the future.

It's gentle and laid back, more Bill Evans than Peterson with perhaps a dash of melancholia thrown in courtesy of Chopin or Debussy.

Drums are discreet, bass supportive and totally part of the overall experience, with Penman's solos capturing the mood set by the leader. Hekselman too is well featured on all but four of the tracks.

The whole nine tracks are excellent but this one really caught me: The Wonky Waltz is a masterpiece of fun and complexity. I'd like to see any of the contestants on 'Strictly' deal with the unexpected changes from 5/4 to 2/4, the tempo variations and the brief few bars of stride that would surely have sent even Fred Astaire back to dancing school and poor Ginger stretchered off to A&E with at least one broken ankle (dancing backwards in high heels).

On the more straight forward (ish) tracks, I occasionally, vaguely I must admit, detected a Scottish influence but that could have been my imagination.

Music for a party, but a party where only one other person has been invited.

Frivolity aside, it's well worth checking out.