Rainey's acoustic quintet Obbligato's third album was taped at the back end of a European tour at Jazzclub Hannover. The drummer has made key collaborations with a close circle of musicians in New York since the late 1990s, most notably at first in saxophonist Tim Berne's various projects; Obbligato is part of a nucleus of collaborators since 2010.

Although Rainey and his peers naturally favour originality in terms of composition as well as improv, Obbligato is an exercise in jazz standard interpretation. Yet straightahead it certainly ain’t; neither is it though a recording that strays far from the memorable melodies of evergreens – all of which have appeared on previous Obbligato recordings – as might similarly left-field schools of jazz interpretation. Instead themes are often present as reconstructed fragments intriguingly wafting in and out of the material or as a whole with interweaving soloists. Ralph Rainger's ‘If I Should Lose You’ emphasises the intimate collective counterpoint at the heart of the album with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and pianist Jacob Sacks, who replaces regular pianist Kris Davis this time, at first sounding smokily reminiscent of the Marsh-Tristano ensemble. ‘What's New’ also comes with the ensemble's simpatico give-and-take before a giddily offbeat, freewheeling episode in which Sacks plays the theme as a background like a late night barroom pianist; Alessi and Laubrock's versions that follow are similarly poignantly old-fashioned. You can fall in love with these classic songs all over again listening to this quite exceptional recording.