John Law Quartet, featuring Tim Garland   The Moment   Cornucopia CRCD06, April 2000

John Law, piano; Tim Garland, sop./ tenor saxophones; Tim Wells, bass; Dave Wickins, drums

You might be surprised by the gently swinging, lightly embroidered sound of the opening track here, a dedication to Italian pianist/composer Antonio Zambrini, whom the English pianist John Law credits with helping to change his jazz perspective in 1999. The track's lyrical, Chick Corea feel is a fair distance from the more angular mix of Thelonious Monk, classical music and free improvisation that marked out this this thoughtfully original musician through the 1990's. On this set, a more conventionally swinging acoustic trio, with saxophonist Tim Garland on three tracks, Law is charting his shift "to something a little more like a jazz pianist". Apart from the Corea touches, there are visits to a kind of Mehldau-ish jazz/classical territory on the lightly trickling "Remembering When", train-rhythm pounding like early Abdullah Ibrahim on "Snakes And Adders", and even some Horace Silver-like gospelly playing. The rather sombre and reflective "Isolde" starts as romantically preoccupied solo piano before a faintly doodly section for Garland's soprano sax, but the title track (dedicated to Kenny Wheeler) stands out. It is a rolling conversation between Law and Garland that develops with a lovely, gentle swing. It confirms Law's ability to sound like his own man, whether he chooses to get closer to the mainstream or not.

John Fordham   The Guardian  February 2002