Although the recent Strata East celebration at the Barbican centre has significantly raised the profile of the pianist (and co-founder of said label), this year those who have taken a passing interest in the output of Steeplechase records will know that he has been in great form of late. 2013's Welcome To The New World was a fine quartet album and this new set highlights Cowell's ability in a trio setting. As has been the case since he emerged in the late 1960s subtlety is his strong suit. Cowell's lightness of touch, careful, unhurried investigation of harmony and well-calibrated single note runs make him eminently listenable. The understated sensuality of the ensemble sound has faint echoes of 1973's Illusion Suite, one of the key entries in Cowell's discography, but the big difference is that this is essentially a standards set. The rub is that, aside from Monk's ‘Off Minor’ and Dameron's ‘Hot House’, the pieces are by no means the usual suspects. With that in mind both the choice and treatment of Jaki Byard's ‘Mrs Parker Of KC’, all hop-skip-jump, slightly calypso-ish swing, is excellent. Billy Drummond's fizzing brushes and Jay Anderson's buoyant bass also make vital contributions, but Cowell throws another curveball into the air by the inclusion of two of his own songs, ‘Photon In A Paper World’ and ‘The Wedding Recessional’. Like his most enduring tunes they are shaped by signature timbral delicacy and classically inflected melodic content. All of which makes the point that, as a progressive, personal composer, Cowell's place in the jazz canon is an important one.