Once hailed by my late Jazzwise colleague, Jack Massarik, as the "patriarch of Czech jazz piano", Emil Viklický is a consummate pianist who blends the harmonic language of jazz with the soulful depth of Moravian folk music.

Marked by nimble soloing and textural nuance, his performances and recordings have earned him recognition as one of Europe’s most expressive yet underappreciated pianists and composers. At the time of writing, Ryall is shortlisted in this year’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards for Jazz Vocalist of the Year and Jazz Album of the Year, the latter for her previous release on Rubicon Classics, Sings The Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell Songbook. This much-anticipated follow-up to that first outing presents a wonderful meeting of minds, with Ryall’s lyrics perfectly fitting the varicoloured moods of Viklický’s compositions.

Standouts include ’Conjurology’ over which the spirit of Thelonious Monk seems to hover (“This dark and magical brew, Will a seem too good to be true, Conjure a potion a day, And keep the demons away”). Named after a character from US writer Donald E Westlake’s novella, Ordo, the noirish ’Dawn Devayne’ is another highpoint. Viklický previously recorded the magnificent ’Moon, Sleeping in a Cradle’ on a fine duet album with bassist George Mraz, Together Again, and it’s a joy to hear it again with Ryall’s freshly minted lyrics. Nicholas, whose musical relationship with Viklický stretches back to 1990, plays superbly throughout, not least his soprano and tenor contributions on the folk-like ‘Gone With Water’, while Dvorský and Ford prove to be a supremely subtle rhythm section.