Diana Torto/John Taylor/Anders Jormin: Triangoli (Astarte NC1839)
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the singing of Diana Torto on the recent Kenny Wheeler release, Nineteen Into One, but perhaps it was just the context and the rather lethargic arrangements that affected my view. Certainly I don’t have the same problems here.

Inevitably when the pianist is John Taylor, the majestic presence of Norma Winstone remains in the shadows behind any singer, but while Torto has a lot in common with Winstone, she is also very much her own woman here, and ideally suited to the spacious setting of just piano and double bass.

Most of the songs are originals – by Taylor with lyrics by Torto, or by Torto herself with other lyricists, or by Jormin with his own lyrics. The exceptions are a beautiful setting of Lorca and the Harry Warren/Al Dubin standard Summer Night. Dorto sings as well in English as she does in Italian.

There is a terrific feeling of friendship and collaboration in the music, each musician both sounding effortlessly relaxed yet also playing to a stringently high standard. Both Taylor and Jormin are wonderfully supportive and sympathetic to a singer, and Torto is the kind of singer who moves within the the instruments rather than on top of them.

Jormin’s Waiting shows the trio clear and expressive, Mi(s)stango is a bright example of Torto’s scat mastery, while the Taylor/Torto Ballada shows the singer at her most eloquent in a style which is neither jazz , nor folk, nor Broadway, nor torch ballad in style, but somewhere in between them all. Her performance here, and Jormin’s solo, and Taylor’s accompaniment, become pure music of the loveliest kind.

The sound of the recording is fabulous, too – close and intimate but warm and resonant with it. An equilateral triangle of perfect proportions.