JAZZ AND BLUES

Jazz

Given the resurgence of interest in easy listening - not to mention the fact that certain performances are more "cocktail jazz" than anything really challenging - it is perhaps not surprising that a Burt Bacharach tribute would appear. But it would have been difficult to predict that the man responsible would be McCoy Tyner (above), whose piano was at the centre of some of the late John Coltrane's most complex and fieriest recordings. Admittedly, Tyner's work (recently released on Impulse) begins with something that sounds extraordinarily like the beginning to Coltrane's performance of "My Favourite Things", but it is a convincing effort. It just might pack in a few less-than-diehard fans for his Royal Festival Hall performance under the aegis of the Oris London Jazz Festival on Monday (10 Nov).

Elsewhere, Latin America sets the pace - as it has for much of the year. Tonight, again at the RFH, trumpet star Roy Hargrove continues his exploration of the style featured on his hugely enjoyable Verve album Habana.

Meanwhile, across town, at Brentford's Watermans Arts Centre, Sierra Maestra serve up a sizzling sauce based on "son", the idiom that is a key ingredient of salsa and enjoying rising interest thanks to Ry Cooder's acclaimed collaborations earlier this year.

But perhaps the festival's most enticing offering of the week is the series of dates at Pizza Express (Dean Street W1 branch) from Tuesday, featuring the pianist Danilo Perez. As the title of his recent Impulse CD Panamonk suggests, he is a Panamanian doing his take on Thelonious Monk - and what a take it is. All the choppy, sometimes disturbing rhythms associated with the great man are there - but given a large dash of Latin zest. And, since Perez is a young performer who has already had a stint with that great showman Dizzy Gillespie, audiences can expect a lively evening.

Roger Trapp