Album: Martin Speake, Live at Riverhouse (Pumpkin)

Some musicians make fun of corny standards.

Alto saxophonist Martin Speake loves them. This second disc by his ultra-sensitive "Generations" quartet takes a number of crusty old friends and creates something new and experimental while still allowing their mothers to recognise them. Bassist Dave Green's introduction to "When You're Smiling" is sly and joyful, while the terrific Jeff Williams reinvents the lost art of bebop drumming on George Shearing's "Conception".