Enjoyable as the last two ‘Jackets albums have been - the vocals-rich Raising Our Voice, and the orchestral partnership with the WDR Big Band, Jackets XL - Parallel Motion finds our attention once more, and rightly, fixed on the band’s integrity as a quartet. And what a pleasure it is to share again in the chemistry which makes this one of the seminal bands of not just this but the last century (phew, yes, they’ve been around that long.)

Each member gets the chance to stretch out, each brings new songs, but the sense as ever is that this is a band as tight and connected as ever. So from the get go, Mintzer’s ‘Intrigue’ is a supple and suggestive song with a stand out Alderson bass break that Flo Moore would purr over, while by contrast the title track is a shade darker, with Ferrante’s thoughtful piano setting up Mintzer’s Shorterish theme. The sound is primarily acoustic and intimate, although ‘Onyx Manor’’s Rhodes and synths summon echoes of Weather Report and the band’s own 1980s fusion roots. Another variation is Jean Baylor’s optimistic vox on ‘If You Believe’, which doesn’t quite tip into schmaltz. But the real joy of Parallel Motion is having the band back and swinging together, as on the balladic ‘Samaritan’. Plus ca change…