The French trumpeter Stéphane Belmondo released his first album in 1993, and has long been something of a first call for French stars and Americans visiting Europe alike. His twelfth release is a straightforward quartet date showcasing his warm tone and strong melodic touch – there's something of Art Farmer's precision on his ballad playing. The rhythm section, featuring local bassist Sylvain Romano and the Americans Kirk Lightsey and Billy Hart on piano and drums, is solid, with Lightsey delivering flowing lines and knowing flourishes of harmonic invention. Five workmanlike Belmondo originals range from the modal and atmospheric to the fringes of the free, there's a lilting cover of Stevie Wonder's ‘You and I’ and a hard-boppish reading of Wayne Shorter's ‘United’. Highlight is the Kirk Lightsey original ‘Habiba’ with its mallet-driven flute intro – a surprising double by Kirk Lightsey, who reminds me of Yusef Lateef in his prime – and sudden morph into modal vamp.