The eponymous subject of this moving and powerful album is the bandleader Michael Leonhart’s 15-year-old mini dachshund, for whom the recording serves as a singular musical eulogy.

It features a pair of suites, the first of which documents the five stages of grieving; and the second of which offers a meditation on love and loss.

The playing of multi-instrumentalist and composer Leonhart and his orchestra – which here includes the stellar talents of Eric Friedlander, Keyon Harrold, Freddie Hendrix, Catherine Russell, EJ Strickland and more – displays breathtaking scope and elegiac insight. Lasting a little over five minutes, from its otherworldly choral introduction and harmonic stasis to the emotive, perfectly judged solos by trombonist Jim Pugh and tenorist Walt Weiskopf, ‘Nostalgia’ (from 'Suite #1') is the most captivating passage of music I’ve heard this year.

Highlights from 'Suite #2' include the measured tread of the chorale-like ‘Waking From Sedation’ (featuring guitarist Bill Frisell), the Satie-like simplicity and directness of expression of ‘La Preghiera’ scored for solo piano, and the beautifully interweaving lines of the wordless chorus in ‘Freedom From The Pain’. In addition to the two suites, we’re also treated to a trio of songs – ‘Shut Him Down’, ‘Radio Is Everything’ and ‘Newspaper Pane’ – from vocalist and co-writer Elvis Costello.

A further brace of bonus tracks composed by Leonhart as birthday tributes to two of his favourite composers, ‘Kenny Dorham’ and ‘Wayne Shorter’, presents the debut recording of Leonhart’s organ quartet featuring the great Donny McCaslin.