The 26-year-old Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan didn't cause a lot of fuss when he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Piano Competition Award in 2006, the same year he recorded his debut as leader. Things have changed considerably following his 2011 solo piano album, A Fable, an effervescent blend of his Armenian musical heritage that included song, poetry and hymns and his love of classical music and jazz improv. Californian-based since his teenage years, he's only recently emerged as an international bright young thing with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Trilok Gurtu numbering among his fans. Tigran goes out with a new band on Shadow Theater and his music gets an audacious injection of contemporary funk, post-minimalist metal and electronics, worked into a great studio mix that's more subtle, cohesive and less showy than his recent live date at the London Jazz Festival. There's an ethereal, slightly medieval quality in his falsetto and haunting vocals backing an excellent lead vocals from Areni Agbabian, and is complemented by his exquisite music-box like, filigree figures on the piano and celesta. There are spaces in the music where you might find yourself yelling at the CD player for a jazz soloist to intervene – as well considering there are a couple of very capable ones on the recording. Reminiscent in part of Avishai Cohen's more vocal-led folk song lyricism, the head banging piano fusions of Japanese pianist Hiromi as well as the clattering latin rhythms of Cohen's ex-employer Chick Corea, Shadow Theater has an otherworldly brilliance about it.