The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a review of mine devoted to a London appearance by this Simkins trio that was placed on this magazine's website. I was entranced by their interplay, by the sheer lucidity of the extemporisations, with each player intent on finding a way to connect with the others while seeking outcomes that were personal to them. This was the album extensively trailed at that live gig and a fine affair it is. They open with ‘Make Someone Happy’, Iles reflective at first as Simkins enters, the alto sound quietly plaintive before Iles opens up and Green solos with the innate authority that marks all his work. Nikki describes Geoff and Dave as unique players; the same must be said of her, of course. There's a kind of steely resolve behind that flashing smile, as if there's not a moment to lose in responding to the creative urge. It's especially rewarding to hear her reinvent the harmonic outlines on another standard, ‘Nobody Else But Me’, and I loved hearing what the trio make of saxophonist Josh Rutner's reworking of Parker's demanding ‘Moose the Mooche’ as ‘Mooch Too Early’, using the “harmonic framework of Bill Evans' ‘Too Early’.” Phew! Softly spoken music perhaps, but very much a group effort with each individual prepared to make their own adjustments to these highly varied compositions without sacrificing elegance or improvisational value. Other pieces by Earl Zindars and Kenny Wheeler carry forward this sense of a kind of exploratory intimacy, this also epitomised by ‘Friend-Lee’ by Lee Konitz, one of the masters to whom Simkins owes allegiance. There's beauty here and “tranquillity rather than turbulence” in Humphrey Lyttelton's apposite words.