Klammer is the hugely impressive sophomore recording of originals and ensemble arrangements by the gifted 2008 Guildhall graduate and pianist-keyboardist Rick Simpson. Though the pieces here are mostly through-composition, there's no lack of improvisation and there's an organic quality to it. The chamber jazz minimalism and insistent irregular metres echo John Hollenbeck's The Claudia Quintet at times, and the instrumentation perhaps supports such a comparison. But there's also plenty of dreamily tender, folk-ish melodies to counter the more angular aspects of Simpson's writing. ‘Beware of Gabriel Garrick Imitators' could be a playful Django Bates circus music-like tune and ‘Surreal Estate’ sounds a bit like a Loose Tubes take on Township music, while Simpson's reflective, melancholic piano on ‘Orbital’ is reminiscent of an Esbjörn Svensson ballad. The vibraphonist Ralph Wyld – a 2015 Kenny Wheeler jazz prize winner who played a key role on saxophonist John Martin's recent The Hidden Notes CD release – makes another valuable contribution here in his understated colouring of the ensemble arrangements. Simpson develops his themes with a sense of direction and purpose, even when taking a break from the extended compositional approach on the Ornette-ish ‘Unsustainabubble’ where a traditional post-bop form takes the place, at least temporarily, of his contemporary jazz sensibilities.