British trumpeter Charlotte Keefe expands her work in more ways than one. Moving from solo to duo to quartet to large ensemble she retains a strong identity. Her full-bodied, broad tone and stealthy phrasing are effective regardless of the changes in instrumentation and stimulus provided by her wide range of accompanists, and first and foremost Keefe shows notable strength of character as she runs the sonic and emotional gamut. Her harmonising with the steely vibrations of guitar and discreet yet penetrating drums and bass on ‘1200 Photographs’ makes for a very impressive overture from which Keefe builds steadily, becoming intensely lyrical on several intimate laments, and uncompromisingly adventurous on ‘NoizeMaschin!’, where her amalgamations of agitated breath and scrambling tone make for an enticing timbral landscape.

Yet as much as Keefe and all her accompanists thrive on compositions in which the onus is on a kind of detailed finger-painting-voice-printing of sounds they also handle well situations which call for fewer notes and more largo lines, as is the case on the mysterioso atmosphere of the title track which sees the distinctively ashen and atomising vocals of Phil Minton and Maggie Nicols come forcefully into play.