Karen Sharp Trio - Another Place

The Guardian 80

(KLS)

Britain’s professional jazz musicians, even those such as saxophonist-composer Karen Sharp who are voted top in magazine polls, don’t spend all their days in recording studios and all their nights on stage at Ronnie Scott’s. For the most part it’s a round of assorted gigs at local clubs, private parties and events that rarely get advertised or reviewed. It’s a smallish world, and since there are no permanent bands these days, everybody has a chance to play with everybody else sooner or later.

That’s how this very enjoyable album came about. Sharp, guitarist Colin Oxley and bassist Simon Thorpe played a couple of gigs together and found the open texture of the trio format so exhilarating that they just had to record it. With no drums to tie them together, all three instruments have equal weight, and it’s easy to appreciate the freedom of movement this allows. It takes good musicians to make the most of it, and they don’t come much better than this. Of the 10 numbers here, three are recent compositions by Thorpe, one is by Sharp and the rest are old favourites chosen by the players just because they like them.