The British saxophonist and composer Pete Hurt has a low public profile, but a big one with his fellow pros, thanks to his work as a first-call sideman for illustrious international bands, a composer of much of the hit musical Five Guys Named Moe and plenty more. His 1984 album Lost For Words aligned him with such Gil Evans-inspired UK composers as Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs and John Warren, but the chance passed; only now has he decided to pick up the pieces again. Gibbs’ vivid soundscapes gleam in the twisting Forbidden Fruit and in the slow-burn brass swell of Blues in the Dark; there’s Evans magic in the contrast of tuba and flute on the thoughtful Triangle (a vehicle for fine pianist Kate Williams) and a Birth of the Cool feel to the incandescent chords of the title track. The horn soloists are occasionally tentative amid Hurt’s sophisticated tapestries, and the unfolding narratives could use a little more dramatic punch on occasion, but Hurt’s return to bandleading is welcome news indeed.
