In these dark times, it is wonderful to hear an album on which every track is a joy, an illuminating delight and an aesthetic triumph. The pairing of Belgian trumpeter Bert Joris and Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi is a meeting of spirits as well of minds and musical personae. With Pieranunzi's long experience of working with some of the word's greatest trumpeters, including Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Enrico Rava and Kenny Wheeler, the conditions were set fair for a fine collaboration, but as co-producer and bassist Jasper Somsen says, listening to this ‘everything else in the world doesn’t seem to matter that much'. There are slow reflective pieces, including Pieranunzi's affectionate welcome to his baby nephew ‘Cradle Song For Mattia’ or the opening track, ‘Siren's Lounge’. But Joris's jaunty composition ‘Millie’ suddenly prompts a waterfall, nay, a cascade, of brilliance from the piano, and we are swept along by two musicians whose exuberance is as infectious as their introspection is deep. Some tracks here are well-honed compositions, but others are spur-of-the-moment creations such as the riveting ‘Freelude’. Thought has gone into the sequencing of the album so that if you listen in order, you share the musicians' journey. The witty, fragmented ‘What's What’ follows ‘Freelude’ and we're suddenly dashing along at speed, between sudden moments of reflection. It's a record that repays repeated listening, and draws us in to a private world of beauty and exhilaration.