An interesting trumpet pairing of one of jazz's older guard (not yet ‘old’, it should be said) in Tom Harrell with one of the current crop of jazz's rising stars in Ambrose Akinmusire. The trumpet voicings are usually confined to unison lines or simple harmonisations (thirds); the themes are skeletal and functional, more to set tempo, key and establish the underlying harmonic form – vehicles for improvisation, rather than enduring themes. The choice of guitar, rather than piano, or guitar and piano, lends a lightness of texture that is perhaps less suited to this ensemble, which seems to demand a bit of bottom. Drummer Jonathan Blake is very pro-active and, like many drummers on the New York scene, in constant solo mode rather than functioning as a timekeeper. His intrusions into the improvised line can be distracting. ‘Circuit’ features Harrell and guitarist Altura, while ‘Travelin'’ features Akinmusire. The latter is again featured on ‘Trances’ and it is his work throughout this album that is of much interest. In this post hard-bop jamming format against wispy chordal accompaniment from guitar he is out on his own, and given enough rope to hang himself, does quite the opposite demonstrating that perhaps more than on his own recordings he really is the real deal.