Roller Trio - Roller Trio

This year’s token jazz nominee for the perennially boring Mercury Prize, Roller Trio’s debut is a leaner, edgier affair than such middlebrow recognition might suggest. Hailing from the same Leeds scene as the thrashier Trio VD, RT offer a taut fusion of jazz, rock and electronica that is both accessible and inventive. Fans of tricksy time signatures and dub fx, they avoid being too clever for their own good thanks to drummer Luke Reddin-Williams’ superbly controlled and funky playing. Saxophonist James Mainwaring is adept at clipped, punchy phrasing and lyrical balladry, while forays into John Zorn-like skronk rub pleasingly against the grain of Luke Wynter’s spacey art-rock guitar.