(Flying Blue Whale)

Violin has a long history in jazz, going back to early pioneers such as Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith and Joe Venuti, but has never been a dominant presence. In modern terms, Jean-Luc Ponty, Didier Lockwood, Regina Carter, Nigel Kennedy and others have electrified and contemporised the instrument in diverse directions, and Chris Garrick is clearly aware of that entire history.

Centrepiece of this new quartet album is the violinist’s own 5-way Suite over five tracks, taking in both funky and gospel-infected segments before ending on the beguiling ‘When We Wake Up We’ll Be Somewhere Else’. Other standouts are his arrangement of Gershwin’s ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ and a fresh rethink of Jobim’s ‘How Insensitive’ (featuring a seven-string violin).