IN CAHOOTS: CONSPIRACY THEORIES

The English are doing jazz-rock right these days. Easy, I suppose, with such a stylish and refined player as Phil Miller and his ever-improving In Cahoots, this time with plenty of brass ~ trumpet/sax pair Finch & Picard, as well as Annie Whitehead's trumpet and Didier Malherbe's soprano sax ~ the keys of Pete Lemer, and the fantastic rhythm section of Mark Fletcher and Fred Baker from the original line-up. As good as Miller's All That (2003) was, in many ways this is better and shows a deeper relationship between the core members.

Conspiracy Theories is in large part a jazz recording but the presence and push of rock is always there, making it an unusually well-balanced album that will probably be disliked equally by both camps. It is jazzrock taken in a slightly different direction by sage masters of their craft; refined palates that prefer suggestion and subtlety over obvious aggressions. Fusion aged in oak barrels, smooth but poignant, and requiring some patience. The title swings with the deft harmonic style this ensemble has forged over the years and moves in between Latin, trad jazz and smokin' bop. Eight-minute 'Press Find Enter' is a pulsing beauty at times, packed with good jams if a bit too long. 'Flashpoint' finds a spacey groove with great fills from bassist Baker, and Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin guest on the very reminiscent '5s & 7s', moody and deceptively slow, hiding deep intricacies and making the Canterbury presence nicely felt. 10-minute 'Freudian Triode' is complex but loose, open to new avenues and much room for soloing, modulations, style shifts and spontaneous discoveries, 'Ornica' is fun and almost commercial, and both 'Crackpot' and 'Lydiotic' are slow-growing creatures of immense power that groove with quiet determination topped-off with our frontman's seasoned guitar phrasing.

A splendid example of contemporary English jazz fusion from this classy bunch, recommended to anyone willing to listen.