Dan Costa: Beams

UK-born pianist Dan Costa plays and composes in the impressionistic tradition of Bill Evans, acoustic Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea or Marcin Wasilewski. It is a style that lends itself well to the alchemy of turning light into music, music into light. And his subject matter of choice on Beams, like that of an impressionist painter, is indeed light. He describes the album as "a celebration of light in some key physical and metaphysical forms."

Light is like water, according to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and it cascades from Costa's piano keys as if turning on a tap. If there is a Garcia Marquez-like magic realism to his playing, it is accentuated by the album's South American flavour. Several Brazilian musicians feature in the lineup, with Teco Cardoso on alto sax, Paulinho Vicente on drums, along with vocal contributions from Hermeto Pascoal and Anne Boccato, complementing Costa's Portuguese/European sensibilities. Boccato's ethereal vocals especially recall those of Flora Purim on Chick Corea's Return To Forever (ECM, 1972) and Beams will likely appeal to fans of that release or Light As A Feather (Polydor, 1973).

Not only does Beams echo the solo efforts of a former Miles Davis alumnus like Corea, no less than three Davis alumni play on it. Dave Liebman, Mike Stern and Pascoal. Rounding out the personnel are John Patitucci on bass and Dave Douglas on trumpet. But the consistent backbone across the majority of the tracks is the rhythm section of Patitucci and Vicente, aiding Costa. Three tracks even feature this trio on their own. Douglas joins them on the title track, followed by the warmth of Cardoso's saxophone on "Acalantando," Stern's electric guitar on "Sparks of Motion," and Boccato on "Paw Prints" and "Então." Pascoal also appears on "Então," scat singing through a glass of water, while the closing track, "Stardial," strips the performance down to a celestial duet between the piano and Liebman's soprano sax, unaccompanied.

The shifting array of collaborators allows Costa to slot different lenses onto his camera, so to speak, applying the relevant lens aperture to capture whatever lighting differences exist each time. The result is a haunting, poetic album where Costa's melodic lyricism dances like dappled rays.

Some of the best atmospheric jazz you are likely to hear in 2023. Or any year.