The origins of this entertaining disc lie in Simon Mulligan’s encounter with Alexis Weissenberg in 1996 at the Fondazione per il Pianoforte‚ in a villa overlooking Lake Como. There the maestro heard the young British pianist relaxing with some jazz improvisations and immediately invited him to play his Sonate en état de jazz. The Sonata sounds like a pianist’s post­concert unwinding after a strenuous recital of Ives’s Three­Page Sonata‚ Ravel’s Valses nobles‚ Barber’s Sonata‚ some Ginastera and some Messiaen. Judged by the standard of those masters‚ it is more a sketch than a composition – textures are too samey‚ and the third and fourth movements are too long for their material. But the dance­related moods are attractive and for the most part well sustained‚ and certainly Mulligan sounds as though he is revelling in them. The post­Scriabinesque study‚ Le regret‚ rather outstays its welcome‚ meandering on for 11 minutes. La fugue is a musical comedy for which Weissenberg supplied music in the 1960s. Mulligan’s improvisations on four of its songs will probably delight you in direct proportion to your liking for the international modern jazz idiom. Like most improvisations they are more for the enjoyment of the moment than for concentrated listening or repeated hearings. But I enjoyed their quick­wittedness and sly harmonic turns. Turn down the lights‚ pour a favourite drink‚ and the slow third number should hit the spot. Acoustic and recorded balance are nicely judged‚ and this chance to get to know the unsuspected creative side of a famous performing artist is more than welcome.