Thomas Bartlett
Shelter
(Modern Recordings/BMG)
★★★★★

THE NOCTURNE was developed by Irish composer John Field c1814 and, by the 1850s, reached its culmination with Frederic Chopin’s masterful collection of 21.

It was Chopin’s romanticism that was a revelation to Thomas Bartlett when he was a child — music he understood with his heart, not his head. He’s now resurrected the idiom magnificently by modernising it with contemporary sensibilities, particularly jazz.

Each of these eight nocturnes offer abundant solace for these times of anxiety and uncertainty. Subtly private, they are soothing lullabies that thrill with cadences that imperceptibly enter the soul.

Here, Bartlett is in debt to pianist Maria Curcio, who taught him “how to invest in every tone, especially the quiet ones.” And so he does, majestically.

The eight nocturnes are named after types of roses and Rugosa, Multiflora, Lucida and Arvensis are mesmerising gifts from Bartlett.

Layla Kaylif
Lovers Don’t Meet
(Canopus)
★★★★

“YOUR love is like birth, like death … impossible to repeat,” sings Layla Kaylif on As I Am, a line borrowed from Syrian Nizar Qabbani, one of the most revered contemporary Arab poets.

Apart from Qabbani, the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi inspires title track Lovers Don’t Meet and the 99, while Shakespeare gets his say on Don’t You Know Me Yet? and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese finds an echo in Let Me Count The Ways.

This erudition imbues Kaylif’s lyrics with a warmth and elegance and these emotionally honest, unhurried and mellow tunes invite repeated listening.
 
The mixed Americana, folk and country arrangements offer all the familiarity of banjo and guitar-driven harmonies to complement Kaylif’s distinctive and warmly melodious alt voice.

Assorted Nashville stalwarts provide stylish support, eloquently anchored by Matt Iceman on drums.

Keith Relf
All The Falling Angels
(Repertoire Records)
★★★★

WITH Jim McCarty, Keith Relf was at the fulcrum of the legendary Yardbirds, a band which at various times also included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

Relf, the band’s iconic voice from the memorable Shapes of Things or Heart Full of Soul to the haunting Gregorian chant of Still I Am Sad, also pioneered heavy-rock improvisation well before Cream or Led Zeppelin and was a master harmonica player.

All this from a man who was in precarious health, had one lung and listened avidly to the Modern Jazz Quartet.

After the Yardbirds imploded in 1968 Relf enthusiastically kept reinventing himself and this compilation charts his journey with milestone gems like Together Now, Line Of Least Resistance — which has a great riff — or the fascinating, experimental Cherokee.

Relf’s life in music, tragically cut short, could not have been celebrated better.