The Tingvall Trio, comprising Martin Tingvall from Sweden, Omar Rodriguez Calvo from Cuba and Jürgen Spiegel from Germany, have been rising stars of the European piano trio scene for almost 10 years now. Some may say bridesmaids never to become the bride; quite why they have not yet stepped over the threshold to the kind of Europe-wide acclaim enjoyed by EST may be that for some, their often excellent live performances have not translated well onto recordings. They are, of course, not alone in this, but few groups have displayed such conspicuous potential live, only for their albums to fail to reinforce a similar impression in the cold light of day. What might appear witty or clever in live performance can often appear manufactured and slick on recordings. To be fair, Live from last year seemed to be closing this gap between the live and the recorded, as does this studio album Beat with signs of a maturity emerging that was perhaps missing on earlier albums. There is not quite so much ‘Look Ma! No hands’ bravura and if this is a portent of what is to come, then they could well be on their way to finally realising their potential as perpetual rising stars.