Roller Trio
(F-IRE Records F-IRE CD 52)

A new trio of saxophone, guitar and drums from the same Leeds scene that brought us Trio VD. The instrumentation and some of the influences may be the same, but whereas Trio VD put the accent on the scary, Roller Trio mix some lyricism in with their highly competent, rock-inclined technical playing.

Take the opener, Deep Heat, which moves from jumpy, spiky interaction to a more gentle, harmonious interlude, before haring off into free squark territory and then back to spacey stuff.

The more than 11-minute long The Zone adds more conventional saxophone soloing over a warm-toned rolling riff on guitar and a funky drum pattern, which then moves into a slowly intensifying section for the long haul towards rock improv ecstasy.

Howdy Saudi moves from funky tight formation playing to free squall, while R-O-R has a luscious wash of a start and develops into a lyrical groove with countryish guitar behind declamatory tenor.

It’s how saxophonist James Mainwaring, guitarist Luke Wynter and drummer Luke Reddin-Williams compose that determines these constructions – a communal development of individually improvised ideas. And it seems to work a treat.

Perhaps less tightly focussed than Trio VD, but more inclusive, which draws the thumbs up in this house. A band that, although they have their edgy moments, could be still taken home to meet mother.

Here’s a representative video: