Yetii: Inner Worlds

The thriving jazz scene in Bristol, UK, has brought forth many fine musicians in recent years, as has nearby Cardiff, another smallish but fertile hub for music. Yetii, a piano trio led by pianist and composer Alex Veitch, has built up a loyal local following with its monthly residency at Bristol's Greenbank pub, where its gigs regularly sell out. Despite this, the band's progress to date has been slow, but the word is finally on the street: Yetii is something special.

The signature sound is lyrical and meditative, with a lot of space between notes. Whilst in the contemporary jazz tradition of Keith Jarrett, Veitch's compositions and playing style are also strongly reminiscent of English folk song, as interpreted by pastoral composers like Bax, Butterworth and Vaughan Williams. This feels like European music, first and foremost—more Tord Gustavsen than Brad Mehldau. That said, the one non-original tune in the selection is Abdullah Ibrahim's "Chisa."

Inner Worlds comes three years after Yetii's calling card release, Live at the Greenbank (Self Produced, 2022), and features three of the same tunes—albeit far better recorded. Wonderful and quirky though that debut was, with its jangly pub piano, this new album sounds both more polished and more substantial. Recorded in the concert hall at Cardiff University, where bassist Ashley John Long teaches, the band has arrived at its mature sound with this stately and confident album. Long is no show-off, but when called upon, he can coax an extraordinary range of sounds from his instrument: rumbles, squeaks, lightning-fast runs and deep, sonorous arco tones. Drummer Alex Goodyear, a larger-than-life personality on stage and off, is a listener, with the acute sensitivity needed from someone in this role, alongside the thoughtful Veitch, with his plangent style at the keys. Now together for seven years, Yetii has reached the point where the musicians know each others' playing inside out, and improvisation has become a matter of telepathy. Inner Worlds should enhance their reputation and bring them the attention they deserve.