And what is the name of the film? Admittedly, the question seems a little disrespectful. But it quickly comes to mind when pianist Bill Laurence's latest album begins to play. An orchestra in pleasing harmonies caresses the ear, while here and there piano passages trickle into the flow of sound and enrich the musical fullness. Beautiful? Beautiful!

For his quasi solo premiere Bloom on the ACT label - he recently released the album Where You Wish You Were with Snarky Puppy band colleague Michael League on ACT - Bill Laurence invited the 18-piece The Unknown Orchestra from Manchester to join him. With them, Laurence explores the span between classical, popular music and jazz.

Laurence and the string ensemble have known each other for some time. They performed together at the London Jazz Festival in 2021. The interplay is correspondingly organic. The supporting harmonies and rhythms of the musicians form a stable framework for Laurence's piano passages. At the same time, the structure and dynamics are closely interlinked and support each other.

It is exciting how Laurence succeeds time and again in distilling an ever-increasing improvisation from the captivating basic structures of the nine pieces, inspiring the listener anew each time.

The album is also an acoustic gem. The orchestra is clearly organised, the stage has space without getting lost in acoustic nirvana, the sound is transparent and the frequencies are fairly distributed without lacking pressure in the bass or exaggerating the treble. The fact that it is supposed to end after just 47 minutes will not please some people. But there is a remedy:

Let's press play again. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Bill Laurance, piano, Fender Rhodes MK8, osmose expressive, Prophet 6
The Untold Orchestra
Rory Storm, conductor