Vibes player Roger Beaujolais now has a long beard and celebrates the fact in the title of his new album – Barba Lunga is Italian for ‘long beard’ (and not, as I first assumed, English demotic for someone who lunges at barbers). Beaujolais has had a storied career – only starting to play the vibes around his 26th birthday, co-founding jive band the Chevalier Brothers, participating in the acid-jazz revolution, making the turn to more straightahead acoustic jazz – and can boast a list of credits as long as his facial hair: Robert Plant, Roni Size, Neneh Cherry, Fairground Attraction. Self-taught he may be, but he’s not lacking in technique, or in wit and invention, as he demonstrates on this engaging, energetic set, his first trio release, recorded with long-standing Italian associates Giacomo Dominici (bass) and Alessandro Pivi (drums). Beaujolais weaves some magical lines over the sympathetic, agile foundations provided by his rhythm team. The title-track – written, like almost all of the material here, by Beaujolais – has a twinkling textural density, rhythmic suppleness and probing, exploratory feel, while the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ showcases the trio’s soulful side.