Lyn's Une - Alyn Cosker - Jazzwise

Young Scottish drummer Cosker has both wit and passion in his playing and, in Scottish music writer Rob Adams' formulation, technically he's already an acknowledged "prince of paradiddles...rim-shot royalty". On this impressive debut as leader, he displays a wide range of influences. The music is largely built around his regular touring trio of drums-guitar-bass, which shows obvious affinities with the sound world of John Scofield: sharp-edged blues-funk is one of the key modes here. But the presence of Smith really opens the music out, and there is some wonderfully expansive soloing over Cosker's soon-to-be-trademark (I suspect) penchant for tricky time signatures. ‘Bheki' is a gorgeously cool and soulfully assured tribute to the recently deceased South African pianist Bheki Mseleku, while closing ballad ‘When Autumn Comes' - written with and sung by McMullan - strikes a fine balance between folksy open-heartedness and jazz cunning.