Tineke Postma: The Traveller

Dutch saxophonist Postma, a student of sax stars Dave Liebman and Chris Potter in America, made a lasting impression when she first visited the UK in 2008, and she was recently here again with this material and The Traveller's fine American drummer Teri Lyne Carrington. The themes on this set (all Postma's save for Villa Lobos's Adagio 13) hum with character and unusual turns of phrase, from the opening Song for F, with its rolling, anthemic feel diverted into unexpected feints and diversions. The Eye of the Mind has a mournful, weaving melody over the ever-dazzling Geri Allen's urgent piano figures; Crazy Stuff hints at the devious advanced-bop machinations of Konitz or Lennie Tristano, and Postma seems hardly to blow some of her soft sounds on the folk-song slow theme The Line.