Having studied jazz at Leeds College of Music, the 20-something Scottish-born pianist went on to the post-grad course at the prestigious Conservatoire in Amsterdam, where he is still resident. Impressing greatly with his previous 2014 CD release Spirit Speech, the follow-up, The Triolithic, is even better, catching the spirit of Robert Glasper's neo soul and J Dilla beats and sprinkling it with tasteful yet penetrating interjections of synth and electronica. ‘Elephant Man’ and ‘White Nights’ recall Weather Report's soul-poppy synth riffs while ‘Free Palestine’, though very simplistic in its message (or lack of), pits a chilled middle-eastern piano trio melody against gunshot samples; Marshall can sound Bob James-ish on Fender Rhodes but is as much attached to his formative classical piano influences and Bill Evans on ‘Windermere’. On ‘Ptah's Vibration’ he alludes to Alice Coltrane's harp glissandos as drummer Jamie Peet, a big vibrant presence all the way through the recording, evokes the spirit of Questlove and Chris Dave. With all the headlines about Glasper and Kamasi, it's time to make some room for an ultra-hip yet jazz-schooled Brit doing his own challenging version of hip hop and electronica-charged, soulful cosmic jazz.