A winner of the Thelonious Monk award for her piano playing, Lynn Arriale has been a star on the horizon for much of the 1990s. Alas, her star never rose stateside, though she's well respected in Europe. This set of eight generous tunes catches Arriale and her trio at the 1999 Montreux Jazz Festival, and the band and its leader are in top form. Arriale has the impressionistic sense of Bill Evans and the breakaway potential of Keith Jarrett, where melodies overcome her and she's off into their hinterlands, rhapsodizing or indulging some hard-hit keyboard commentary that's usually stunning. Her off-speed versions of Monk's quintessentially off-speed "Evidence" and "Think of One" are electrifying for their playfulness. So, too, is her ballad "With Words Unspoken," an elegant treasure of understatement--that is, until the tune sweeps her away. If it's piano you love, this will at least tip, if not gently bowl, you over. --Andrew Bartlett