11/02/2011 John Fordham - THE GUARDIAN

Tim Richards TRIO - Shapeshifting (33Jazz205) - 4 stars
A straight-swinging Richards trio album is always a pleasure. His originals strike fresh sparks from the hard-bop style and his choice of covers is always astute. A third of this set's tracks are his, including the funky title track, and there are timeless standards by Bud Powell (Un Poco Loco), Duke Ellington (an unfussily humane Come Sunday), Cole Porter (Love for Sale, pulsing urgently with a rhythmic throb it isn't usually given) and others. For all the familiar landmarks of regular swing, Richards can always create diversions that make you jump (such as the sudden repeated-note hammerings in the midst of the title track's cruising groove). His chords and fluent runs bounce engagingly with Van Morrison drummer Jeff Lardner and Dominic Howles's bass vamp on Cedar Walton's Bolivia, while his own The Message is a heated gospelly preacher nearly worthy of Horace Silver.