Colin Vallon Trio: Le Vent

Like the wind celebrated in the title track, the Colin Vallon Trio has a subtle, insinuating power. From a still and silent place its music may breathe gently, or steadily build pressure until attaining an eruptive forcefulness. This sense of poetic compression and quiet relentlessness was evident on the ECM debut Rruga, but with leader Vallon now writing almost all of the program and new drummer Julian Sartorius detailing its floating rhythms, the Swiss trio has entered a brave new space where touch and inflection are more important than soloistic gesture. Melodies, unfolding slowly, are shared between Patrice Moret’s bass and Vallon’s piano. A fresh group language is being developed here, extended in the group improvisations which close the set. Produced by Manfred Eicher at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in 2013.