As with the Lucky Thompson set reviewed elsewhere, this trio recording was first issued on the Spanish Ensayo label and its reappearance further serves to highlight this exceptional player's unique qualities. Born blind, Montoliu (1933-97) worked during his career across Europe and briefly in the US with an almost complete range of passing or resident US jazzmen, gradually evolving from his boppish origins to become a technically assured contemporary stylist, with something of Bill Evans' finesse, marked by a Peterson-like drive. His opening blues is a chunky riff, with fine work from bassist Peter, well known to local followers for a period spent in London in the mid-1950s where he recorded with Victor Feldman and Ronnie Scott. ‘You’ve Changed' has a different dynamic, spacious and tidy, the keyboard runs limpid and cleverly sustained, the ideas tumbling out one after the other, the melody lurking. ‘It Could Happen To You’ bowls along, the pianist's deconstruction of this familiar tune neatly done, Peter and Wyboris in hot pursuit, the embellishments almost Tatumesque in their complexity. The title track is relaxed, Montoliu's exposition of the theme, a minor miracle of compression and economy, with a compelling rolling tremolo to remind the listener of the music's antecedents. ‘Jimmy’s Tempo' by Jimmy Heath gets a tougher workout and swings harder, all stops deployed, drums prominent, as you might expect. This is thoroughly engaging music, resolutely creative and stylistically sound.