Dedicated to the sadly departed trumpet player, Richard Turner, Fini Bearman's debut album Step Up possesses something of the rhythmic freedom of Gretchen Parlato, as well as a similar kind of elegiac insight. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Jazz Institute Berlin, the latter involving study with vocalist Judy Niemack and guitarist/composer Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bearman's quartet formed back in 2007 and it's clear that they've clocked up many musical miles together. There's a real sense of a band being entirely attuned to a shared musical sensibility.

Setting words by the Portuguese poet and writer, Fernando Pessoa, ‘Fumei a Vida’ channels something of Jobim's exquisite melodic sense, while the wordless vocalisation of ‘Taking Steps’ highlights Bearman's capacity to confound your expectations with adroit harmonic surprises. As the concluding bars of ‘Still’ demonstrate, she also makes judicious use of her own backing vocals to add a little more textural weight when needed. What impresses most is the overall sweep of the album, which pulls you into a sound world all of its own.