JAZZ PROG
Sid Smith rounds up the best releases from prog’s jazzier reaches.
Recorded in Oslo, This Celestial Engine’s self-titled debut album (Discus) gives UK-born keyboardist Roy Powell, Gong bassist, Dave Sturt and ex-Swans drummer Ted Parsons room to explore echoing drifts of acoustic piano, reversed electronics, acid-etched organ and psych-jam blow-outs. So light on its feet as to almost feel weightless in places, it manages to be entrancing while still brandishing plenty of gutsy impact. Occasionally invoking the ruminative disposition of early 70s Soft Machine, the trio’s bright, anthemic passages bring the album a warm accessibility.