Jester Brooklyn Jazz Underground ****

Despite the name of his latest release, New York bassist Arthur Kell is no fool. It may be his name over the door, and his big booming bass sound that ushers in the opening groover, Quarter Sawn, but he is smart enough to know that when you have a group as talented as his current quartet, you let them play. Not that Jester is some empty blowing exercise. Far from it. Recorded live on tour in Europe last year, the group – guitarist Brad Shepik, saxophonist Loren Stillman and drummer Mark Ferber – take Kell's thoughtful compositions out into a very liberated space, eschewing technical display in favour of subtle group interplay. Shepik weaves in and out of the jazz tradition, chasing down the links between bebop and the Balkans, while Stillman is a model of restraint, always sensing what the music needs without overstatement. arthurkell.com