One of the best ways to succeed in music today, it seems, is to be associated with trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard. His erstwhile pianist Aaron Parks secured a contract with Blue Note. His versatile drummer Kendrick Scott learned how to be a businessman and a producer and now has his own record label, while bassist Derrick Hodge has started scoring, like his leader, for films. Now comes Fabian Almazan, who has been with the Blanchard Quintet for the past two years and a regular visitor to London's Ronnie Scott's club and the Barbican. He was born in Cuba, raised in Florida and lives in New York. Like his Blanchard piano predecessors (including Bruce Barth), Almazan is seriously classically trained and this is evident throughout his debut album, which opens with his personalised arrangement of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10 Op. 118, incorporating some startling and unexpected electronic delay and distortion effects on the sound of the string quartet which is used on this and the title track. His evocative, intensely personal compositions are, in several cases, tributes to members of his family who have encouraged him over the years, plus two very Cuban folkloreflavoured numbers, including the classic danzón ‘Tres Lindas Cubanas’, which reconnect him with his youth. The members of his trio are of great interest. Puerto Rican drummer Henry Cole is from Miguel Zenón's quartet and really scored at their London Jazz Festival concert at Ronnie's in 2010. As for the diminutive, extremely impressive Malaysian-born, Australia-raised bassist Linda Oh, well, there's a big buzz about her at the moment, with Vijay Iyer among her many admirers. Her own initial album is a trio set featuring trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and Sean Jones’ drummer Obed Calvaire. Their open-mindedness helps make Almazan's album rather special, though overall, it does sound more like a contemporary classical rather than a jazz album, hence the rating.