This taut enterprise sits squarely in the postbop ballpark of mostly London-resident New York drummer/composer Jeff Williams, with its echoes of Monk, Miles and Ornette Coleman. But the pieces are robustly appealing and the improv – from a crack British band including pianist Kit Downes, guitarist Phil Robson and tenor saxist Josh Arcoleo – is even better. The set pulses with arresting original themes after a quiet start on the softly exhaled title track. Williams’s tom-toms boom through the snorty riffs of The Interloper, as Arcoleo expressively segues from dark mid-tones to falsetto laments. Dream Visitor follows Downes’s sweeping free-jazz fluency with vivid funk electronics, New and Old has a beautiful ballad intro from Downes and builds to a walking, 50s-Miles jazz groove, while Hermeto (dedicated to Hermeto Pascoal) features Robson at his most sleekly hip, and builds to a genuinely startling free-jazz climax. Outlier references the tradition, but with dynamism, not deference.
