Lee Morgan [Joel Franklin]

I HAVE gone back to playing CDs. I know, how did that happen? Well, I ordered one of the new Leak Stereo 230 amplifiers from Audio Gold in Crouch End (https://audiogold.co.uk/) and when I went to collect it, they had its CD sibling on the shelf. In a moment of I’ve-got-a-credit-card-and-I-am-going-to-use-it madness I bought it too.

But when I got it home, I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake, as most of my recent listening has been on vinyl or streaming. My shelves and shelves of CDs have mostly remained unmolested. It so happened that a copy of Pat Metheny’s new solo album Dream Box (BMG Modern) had arrived that day, so I set up the system and slotted it in. And it was a revelation. Detailed, precise, accurately conveying all the beauty and lyricism inherent in this album of “quiet” guitar tracks in a way my older player could never have done.

“Over-polite background music,” one neighbour suggested when he heard it, but it is the exact opposite – music that demands to be listened to attentively to follow Metheny’s harmonic and melodic inventions. My favourite tracks are Ole & Gard, which whisked me back to the guitarist’s ECM days, a delicious cover version of Never Was Love, a song by Russ Long from 1982 that, here, slowed right down, sounds much older, and the elegant, stately closer, Clouds Can’t Change the Sky.

The spiralling cost of vinyl albums, which often break the £40 barrier, has made me consider buying more CDs. The other silver disc I have been playing is Lee Morgan’s tremendous Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note), which is his entire 1970 three-night residency at the club, spread over eight shiny discs.

The LP version (10 records) is around £300, although I have seen it as high as £750. My CD boxed set, new and sealed, was £30 on eBay. If you don’t know the mighty Morgan (although you will probably have heard his signature tune, The Sidewinder) trumpeter and inveterate crowd-pleaser Andy Davies is tackling the great man’s extensive Blue Note catalogue on July 21 at the Toulouse Lautrec jazz club, just over the river (https://toulouselautrec.co.uk).

A week later, Andy switches it up to celebrate another trumpet legend, Chet Baker, this time at the spiffy Boulevard, in Walker’s Court, in Soho (https://www.soho.live/boulevard.) Baker was not as technically adept as Lee Morgan, but he had his own distinctive sound – melodic, melancholy and wistful. And, of course, he sang in the same register, high, plaintive and fragile – in fact many people thought it was a female singing on his early vocal records. So, it’s not a great stretch for the talented and versatile Jo Harrop to take on Baker’s vocals for the show. Should be a good ’un. (Worth noting that in something of a coup the same venue has a residency from the much-loved soul-jazz-singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, with two shows each night on July 19 and 20 in a rare intimate setting. Tickets as above.)

Meanwhile, two excellent pianists are hitting the Green Note in Parkway (https://www.greennote.co.uk/). Joe Webb returns with his Webb City project, which we have reviewed here before, on July 16. He’ll be channelling Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum in his own disarming way. Islington-born Alexander Bryson brings his trio to the club on July 23.

Classically trained, he also spent time with the late and great Barry Harris in NYC (who influenced Gabriel Latchin, another fine young British pianist). Bryson can range effortlessly across genres while still swinging and we are promised a programme that takes in “French chanson, bebop, Afro-Cuban folk songs, and the blues”. As his recommended debut album for the Hard Bop label (called, unsurprisingly, The Alexander Bryson Trio) demonstrated, he has a lovely touch and great rhythmic instincts, as well as a fine rapport with his bandmates.

Sadly, I can’t make James Brandon Lewis at The Forge in Delaney Street on July 15 (I am seeing the fabulous alto player Lakecia Benjamin at Ronnie Scott’s) but I saw the saxman recently at the Vortex in Dalston and it was fierce, uncompromising, joyous and furious, one of the best nights of non-mainstream jazz I have seen in quite some time.

If you like late Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, you’re good to go (although the trio are far more involving and inclusive than that list might suggest). Tickets: https://www.seetickets.com/event/james-brandon-lewis/the-forge-camden/2687230.

I haven’t yet heard the whole of Zoe Rahman’s album Colour of Sound (Manushi Records), due out about now, although I have pre-ordered it (yes, on CD). It features an octet of well-seasoned players, including Rosie Turton on trombone, Zoe’s brother Idris on saxes and clarinet, Byron Wallen on trumpet and drummer Gene Calderazzo on top form. The Bandcamp taster suggests it’ll be an explosive and uplifting treat. You can hear the music live at Kings Place (https://www.kingsplace.co.uk) on September 6.

Also in King’s Cross, the keyboardist Mike Lindup (of jazz-funk legends Level 42) is launching his new Changes 2 album at Spiritland on July 24. Now this I have heard pre-launch and it’s a lot of fun. Featuring guests bassist Yolanda Charles and singers Tony Momrelle and Omar, it certainly has jazz in its DNA, but there is also soul, disco, spoken word (the peerless Ursula Rucker) and lots and lots of funk. Not one for the purists, perhaps, but I bet Gilles Peterson will love it. The launch promises to be a relaxed affair, with playback of the album, a Q&A, special guests and live music. Tickets (which include a CD of the album): https://tinyurl.com/yckscd39