The Austrian-born pianist David Helbock's albums on ACT have not quite flattered to deceive – showing promise but failing to deliver – but rather they have been revealing of a considerable talent yet to find a way of best framing his music on record. At times he seemed to be pushing in too many directions at once with a ‘Look Ma, no hands!' approach, rather than narrowing his focus in order to seek greater depth and meaning. In this trio with Studnitzky and Jansen he has finally done just that, feeding the needs of the composition at hand and working within the emotional climate created by trumpet and guitar rather than feeling the need to demonstrate his undoubted technical facility.

Moving effortlessly through ‘I Remember Clifford' to Chopin's ‘Prelude in E-Minor, Op. 28, No. 4' (complete with overloaded guitar) and on to Cream's ‘I Feel Free', Helbock here seems to have discovered virtuosity alone is not enough in jazz today.

In the age of high quality jazz education, all young musicians need to be able to perform to a high professional standard. It's a given. The challenge is to find an effective context in which to present that talent to best advantage. With The New Cool, it looks like Helbock has done just that.