The virtuoso Irish guitarist Louis Stewart (1944-2016) first released this solo recital on the Irish Livia label in 1977 as an LP; this CD reissue comes with a new essay and three extra tracks, two of them alternates. A player whose talents attracted leaders like Tubby Hayes, Benny Goodman, Ronnie Scott, and George Shearing, he was always someone who seemed to revel in the close-to attentions inherent in duo or solo situations.

‘Blue Bossa’ is given a torrid reading, heavily chorded, before Chick Corea's ‘Windows’ benefits from a pre-recorded accompanying track also by Stewart. ‘Make Someone Happy’ has that second line too, but cast as chunky rhythm guitar in Freddie Greene style.

‘Darn That Dream’ fully reveals Stewart's awesome capabilities, as he opens up this old melody, chord by chord. There's mastery here. Critics have spoken, wisely, of Stewart's ‘unhurried ease’ and prodigious single-line capability, and his clever articulation. ‘What's New’ has it all.

Originally inspired by Barney Kessel, Stewart stays largely here within what we might call Kessel-like boundaries, his harmonic ideas mostly conventional if compellingly invoked. The album's range veers from great standards to more contemporary pieces, such as Steve Swallow's ‘General Mojo's Well Laid Plan’, taken plainly, and ‘Forest Flower’ by Charles Lloyd via a blues. Nineteen tracks, nicely varied and mostly short, like a master class in modern jazz guitar.