Album: Ketil Bjornstad, La Notte (ECM)

A tribute by the Norwegian pianist to filmmaker and "formative influence" Michelangelo Antonioni, recorded live at a 2010 jazz festival with an impressive ensemble.

Familiar Bjornstad characteristics prevail: romantic tone, sedate tempo, shallow trajectory, much thought over what often sounds like uncomplicated harmony. The most "Antonioniesque" feature is Anja Lechner's cello, whose swooshing curtains of melody take you somewhere altogether Italianate.