Acoustic Ladyland pianist Tom Cawley's Curios took the Best Band prize at the BBC Jazz awards in July 06 - but if he's the electronic engine room of Acoustic Ladyland, Cawley is a subtle acoustic pianist with Curios. He sounds more creatively distanced from his model, Brad Mehldau, here, and the conversational empathy with bassist Sam Burgess and the young Derby drummer Josh Blackmore puts the group up with the world-class practitioners of this intricate and intimate kind of jazz. All the compositions are Cawley's, and they are often brief, Satie-echoing or lullaby-like motifs that Burgess's taut contrapuntal playing and Blackmore's bumpy tattoos, hi-hat hisses and intensifying drama turn into miniature epics. The title track is whimsical, with a folksy four-note theme reminiscent of Abdullah Ibrahim, but Cawley develops it by slowly warping the harmony. He is often reflective, but bursts with ideas at higher tempos, such as over Burgess's driving bass walk and Blackmore's imperious pulse on the track Curious. This sophisticated group's award-collecting looks likely to continue apace. John Fordham The Guardian