Although he sounds nothing like
John Coltrane, John Donaldson's music is influenced to an extent by
Trane. "Scarborough Fair" is reminiscent of
Coltrane's treatment of "My Favorite Things" and some of the other songs are quite modal-oriented. Still, Donaldson does have his own sounds on tenor and soprano and he and pianist
Iain Ballamy (an underrated great) contribute two interesting originals apiece that cover a wide variety of moods ranging from the dreary ("Big Loss In Lewisham") to an exciting transformation of "All Of You" and an upbeat version of
Kenny Wheeler's "Everybody's Song But My Own." ~ Scott Yanow