Master musicians such as Dave Holland, William Parker and Henry Grimes have proved the acoustic bass can have a mesmerising, therapeutic quality when performed solo. But it's not often enough that a recording focused only on solo double bass appears. Here's one by the young Scottish, London-based acoustic bassist Calum Gourlay (SNJO, Kit Downes Trio) on a CD Live At The Ridgeway that's also his debut album. Recorded, mixed and mastered with a natural clarity by the LOOP Collective trumpeter-studio wiz Alex Bonney, Live At The Ridgeway took place in Gourlay's living room in his old pad in North London's Golders Green, tagged the ‘Jazz House’ for being the home for about 15 years to successive generations of young jazz graduates. This is perhaps released as a tribute to the house after it was recently vacated. Throughout a set of mostly familiar jazz repertoire, there's a poise to Gourlay's delivery, a mellowness to his sound. He improvises without harmonically overcomplicating things on such strong themes as Monk's ‘Monk's Mood’, ‘Rhythm-a-ning’, and Ornette's ‘Ramblin'’ and creates some absorbing contrasts in sound and texture along the way. Other rock items include Joni Mitchell's ‘Both Sides Now’ on which Gourlay punctuates the song's melody with echoes of the celebrated singer-songwriter's signature open-chord guitar sound and a favourite bass sideman of hers, Jaco Pastorius. On one of the few originals, titled ‘Hendrix’, Gourlay gets his bow out and uses harmonic overtones and other extended techniques to give the sensation of feedback and distorted psychedelia.