Gerard Presencer - The Optimist - Jazzwise

This is the closest thing to a 'hit jazz' album I've heard since my other favourite recent contender, Wallace Roney's exceptional No Room for Argument - oh, yes, and that one's been summarily dispatched to the wastebin, too, by some. For all it's implied 'simplicity', The Optimist is an album that grows outwards and upwards, the more you listen to it. All this tosh about G Presencer 'squandering' his talent on 'bland jazz fusion' is an extraordinary accusation and an insult to one of this country's most creative and forward-thinking players. 

This album is the greatly anticipated follow-up to Presencer's exquisite debut Platypus album and that was a killer. Why shouldn't a musician who's respected in so-called 'straight jazz' circles tale his music into a new direction if the mood and the moment take him? Especially when he does it as rewardingly as this.

The Optimist  gives Presencer an opportunity to explore some similar musical areas to Truffaz, with its brilliant incorporation of drum 'n bass programming. And above all, notably on tracks such as the unashamedly funky 'The Optimist' (with its Freddie Hubbard-ish overtones) and the compulsive groover 'Patchy Sunshine', Presencer's honey-edged flugelhorn notes swirl and sway in a downright pleasing way.