Yes, I know. Yet another Monk tribute album. Actually, this one is very good, but do let's have a moratorium on Monk tributes for at least a couple of years. Please. It is just not original any more – if it ever was. Ronnie Scott once joked about Elvis Presley making an album of Monk tunes, and that was in 1958 on the live Jazz Couriers album. It was funny then (at least the crowd laughed) but today, if Elvis had not left the building, who knows? What the French alto saxophonist Pierrick Pédron brings to the party is freshness, a clear, incisive tone and confidence. Confidence to transcend the material and project his own perspective on to Monk's knotty brain puzzles. With just bass and drums, he shows he's not afraid of taking chances – there is something of a high-wire act in the way he almost devours pieces like ‘Ugly Beauty’ or ‘Trinkle Tinkle’, staples of the Monk canon that can swallow the unwary, while Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet proves to be an engaging foil on three tracks – and a welcome tonal contrast.