Album: Matthew Halsall, Fletcher Moss Park (Gondwana)

Trumpeter Halsall is one of the success stories of new British jazz, and this fourth album for his own label offers both continuity and development.

The opening sequence, with the spiritual-sounding harp and piano of "Cherry Blossom" leading into a beautiful "Lift to the Scaffold"-esque Halsall solo, and thence to the modal swing of the title track, is as good as anything you'll hear this year. An atmospheric string interlude, "Sailing Out to Sea", shows where he might be headed.