If, as they say in the advertising world, perception is projection, then we on the outside gazing into the Italian jazz scene can hardly be blamed for concluding it is a scene blessed with a remarkable number of accomplished pianists. Whether it be via CD, or at Italian jazz festivals or jazz clubs there seems no shortage of pianists capable of claiming your attention. Rita Marcotulli is a fine example, a name that probably will not be familiar to UK jazz audiences, despite being hailed as a brilliant young star of the Italian jazz scene in the 1980s. She has long since matured into a class act, and when she can be tempted away from composing for film, theatre and dance she's an artist not to be missed. A pianist with an almost perfect touch, even fingering, crafty harmonic thinking and precise control of dynamics, plus the ability to draw on a fund of seemingly effortlessly crafted melodic gems, she is now one of the prime exhibits of the Italian jazz scene. Although her trio is given equal billing, it is Marcotulli who calls the shots in this fine album – her 13th under her own name. She is able to find new and wholly absorbing things to say on Monk's ‘Pannonica,’ no small feat when you consider the number of pianists who have drunk the well of his inspiration almost dry, while other than Charlie Haden's ‘Nightfall’, the other five tracks comprise originals from each of the trio, perhaps the finest Marcotulli's ‘This Is Not’.