If you don’t know the original Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith ‘Fingerbuster’, cut for Commodore in 1939, you might think that the version on the opening track here, which simulates the crackly 78 solo one minute and then cuts to the trio with some inept bass slapping the next, is quite something. But, frankly, it has none of the edge-of-the-seat excitement of the Lion's own somewhat faster virtuoso solo.

So, by starting with a damp squib, the album has a bit of a mountain to climb. The untidy original ‘Uptown In Orbit’ that follows doesn’t help much, but then Cohen's ballad ‘My Love Will Come Again’ is an attractive melody, featuring some fine playing from trumpeter Sean Jones in particular. An original stride piece ‘Spillin’ the Tea’ has some excellent piano but is again ruined by the clichéd slap bass, its shortcomings made the more obvious when Hall starts driving the band along with some fine walking across the registers.

Some ghastly drum effects ruin the opening of Cedar Walton's ‘Mosaic', before a move into impressive up-tempo playing, but the trio comes together well on a suitably slow-paced ‘Li’l Darlin’’, and on an arrangement of Gerry Mulligan's Birth of the Cool ‘Venus De Milo’, that benefits from fresh exploration.

Unfortunately Hall is once more tempted to try his hand at slapping on a trio version of Ellington's ‘Braggin’ In Brass’, again contrasting poorly with his conventional playing on the rest of the track. Overall, an egg to avoid for even the most assiduous curate.