Terraza is a Catalan and something of a jazz luminary in his home town of Barcelona with a number of earlier releases to his name on the Barcelonabased SWIT label. He has accompanied a rich list of visiting US stars and is clearly a player (and composer) whose jazz credentials are of a high order. This live recording was made while the trio was in Thailand and places Terraza somewhere in that pleasing hinterland occupied by the likes of Monty Alexander and Junior Mance. While there's nothing overly profound or tearaway here, Terraza knows how to build a performance, running clever riffs and building lines, while allowing the dynamics to develop, to ebb and fl ow in pleasing fashion. Drummer Pi and French bassist Boussaguet ensure swing and the trio's empathy is evident throughout a programme that runs the gamut from a traditional Catalan song like ‘Les Dotze van Tocant’ through to a bluesy version of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ via Jobim's ‘Corcovado’ and a series of Terraza's own bright originals with John Clayton's stomping ‘Blues for Stephanie’ the highlight. Nicely paced and lucid, this is music that will appeal to those who think piano jazz has the most merit when it is both playful and uplifting too. Curiously perhaps, the album's final track is an audio version (in Spanish, Catalan and English, with piano accompaniment) of the liner notes. That's a first for me.