This is jazz you can listen to over and over, a palatable mix of the modern and old. It’s lively, crisp, and got swing, while retaining a kind of after-dinner feel. While the playing is proficient it’s never showy and while there are solos, it always feels like an ensemble piece.

Latchin is a pianist and plays as smoothly as Oscar Peterson, joined on this by Tom Farmer on bass and drummer Josh Morrison. It’s the effortless sound of musicians who are really good at their craft and love their jazz.

It’s a mix of covers and originals, and Latchin’s Carlora opens, followed by a cover of It Had To Be You.

Other covers include Stomping At The Savoy and If Only I Had A Brain, while Latchin’s other songs include the punning Trane Hopping (giving away the bepop feel of the album) while closer Blues For Billy is for drummer Billy Higgins.

While sounding fresh and modern, if you welded some of this music to a grainy YouTube video of a live jazz band in 1967 it would sound vintage, too.

An enjoyable album; the Review Corner jazz fan will be playing this on Christmas morning, for sure.

Out on Alys Jazz AJ 1501.