Recorded in Leeds earlier this year and just released on Tony Bevan’s Foghorn Records, Money Notes marks the return of Bourne / Davis / Kane, the free improvising piano trio, that made such an impact two years ago with Lost Something, their Annette Peacock and Monk-flavoured debut outing.

Bourne, 33, who has become widely regarded as one of the finest UK improvising piano talents of his generation, a talisman for the creative Leeds jazz scene who scooped the BBC Jazz Award for Innovation in 2002 and numerous other high profile awards, has recently performed as part of the Ugly Guys with Pete Wareham as well as touring Songs From A Lost Piano, a project that featured Bourne’s use of distressed pianos as a source of new sounds.

The BDK project is entirely different and second time around finds an at-times muted Bourne by turn in curious sentimental mood (‘The Lonely Man’) or coiled and razor sharp (‘Needless’) backed by the consoling double bass/drum accompaniment of Kane and Davis. Lurking beneath the surface as so often with Bourne is a darker vision characterised by feral shouts, harrowing abstract passages and the howl of despair from an artist who clearly likes to commune with his dark side. But there’s also Bourne’s quirky English humour coming into play that at times becomes a variant on the eccentricity of Django Bates or Robert Wyatt. The "money notes" are apparently named after a particular saxophonist's penchant for going for the more commercial end of the spectrum.

Tracks are ‘BDK Theme’, ‘The Money Notes’, ‘Gunn’, ‘Pedagogophillia’, ’Yes’, ‘Hive Activity’, ’Know’, ‘Mandrake’, ‘More Money Notes’, ‘Needles’, ‘Old Gregg’, ‘Pontious Pilate’, ‘Scuttler no 2’, ‘Pedagogophilliaca’, ‘The Lovely Man’, ‘The Lonely Man’, ‘Utter Contempt For All Those Who Scat While Soloing’, ‘No Money Notes’, ‘Depression Costume’, ‘Without (For Annette)’, ‘Needless’ and ‘Peace For Ben Cundale’. The illustration on the CD cover, recalling classic sleeve design of the 1950s, casts the musicians on the albums as birds. Chances are Money Notes, given Bourne’s growing fanbase, will fly. We’ll bring you news of live dates as they’re announced. – Stephen Graham

photo: Tim Dickeson