For the first time on record, tenorist
Seamus Blake teams up with his old Berklee schoolmate, drummer
Marc Miralta. They each contribute three tunes, while the session's bassist,
Avishai Cohen, offers the opening minor blues "Go." The one non-original is "Pure Imagination," the
Anthony Newley ballad used in the film Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Cohen co-arranged this tune very differently for
Claudia Acuña's debut disc
Wind from the South. The tracks "Circle K," "Now and Here," and "Mr. Omaha" build upon loosely flowing grooves and open-ended blowing, while "Boston in 3/4" and "70's Child" center around more lyrical melodies and structures. The title track, a quasi-African vamp, has more of an experimental flavor than the other tracks.
Cohen is never one to restrict himself to basic timekeeping; his playing here is characteristically aggressive and percussive.
Blake and
Miralta are both masters of their respective instruments, but it is their fine-tuned and highly musical interplay -- the result of years of collaboration -- that recommends this album. ~ David R. Adler