Witnessing a performance by Israeli composer/bassist Avishai Cohen at London's Union Chapel in 2011 left abiding memories – not just of Cohen's celebrated bass power and the communal invitations of his songwriting, but of the participation of the 24 year-old Shai Maestro, by then his pianist for four years. Maestro seemed to anticipate the band's every move, and he was close to bringing jazz's elastic momentum to Latin-dance vibes as dynamically as Cohen's former boss Chick Corea.

Nine years later, with Maestro a much-followed leader of his own ventures since 2012, comes the captivating Human – the second of the pianist's sessions as a leader on the ECM label. Maestro's respect for the ECM ethos of space and close-listening is apparent from the opening of the tranquil, cymbal-whispering ‘Time’, with its short, glistening piano motifs and gently haunting theme, enriched by the soberly melodious and fitfully free-jazzy trumpet sound of the remarkable Philip Dizack. Dizack is a key figure on this session, threading a deep triplet melody, an Iberian heat and soft multiphonics into the waltzing ‘Mystery and Illusion’, postboppish double-time into the dancing ‘GG’ and an anthemic wistfulness to the time-switching ‘The Thief's Dream’, with visionary young drummer Ofri Nehemya driving a fast pulse under the track's unhurried theme. Hank Jones and Charlie Haden's Steal Away is celebrated on ‘Hank and Charlie’, ‘In A Sentimental Mood’ is given a playfully joyous bounce, and Maestro, Roeder and Nehemya pay quietly intense tribute to the pianist's mother Talma on the exquisitely detailed finale, ‘Ima’. It's a very special session, which the 2021 polls will almost certainly recognise.