Another strong Paul Stache production for Smoke. Herring is at his most assertive throughout 10 tracks – six as a quintet with Pelt, four with LeDonne and a hard-hitting rhythm team of Farnsworth, who first made his mark with the One For All group and a Herring discovery – a female bassist who really knows how to swing named Brandi Disterheft. Herring is probably the nearest we have today to a Cannonball Adderley. He's 50 now and plays with all the confidence in the world. This studio CD has all the energy of a ‘live’ club recording, especially on the many up-tempo tracks (like Vincent's tune ‘The Adventures of Hym Joe Lee’ – based on Coltrane's ‘Countdown’, LeDonne's ‘Walton’ – dedicated, as several are, to the memory of Cedar and Adderley's ‘Wabash’). Pelt (who partners Herring in Louis Hayes' Cannonball Tribute Band) is, as always, in top form, helping make the swinging opener called ‘Grind Hog's Day’ (on altered ‘I Got Rhythm’ changes) by a friend named Gary Fisher, one of the CD's highlights. Farnsworth is superb on this. Donald Byrd's ‘Fly, Little Bird, Fly’ is another outstanding track. It's a shame that Jeremy doesn't play on this version of Billy Reid's ‘The Gypsy’, because I vividly remember the Dizzy Reece takes for Tempo. LeDonne makes his presence felt throughout and contributes a second original, ‘Theme For Jobim’. The closing Herring tune, ‘Smoking Paul's Stash’ (dedicated to the producer) is a stonking 12-bar. Arguably Herring's best record to date.