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A great large group project from reedman Oliver Lake – and a great reminder of his mighty strengths as a writer and arranger too! Right from the start, Lake's had a great ability to move between smaller, intimate settings and more ensemble-based music – and here, he's at the helm of a great batch of well-chosen reed players – all of whom move together as one to realize Lake's complicated charts for the record! The set explodes with bold hues and rich tones right from the start – a shifting palette that only gets stronger as the album moves through Oliver's original compositions – material played by Mike Lee and James Stewart on tenor, Darius Jones and Bruce Williams on alto, Jason Marshall on baritone, Stafford Hunter and Aaron Johnson on trombones, and Walton Ricks, EJ Allen, Nabate Isles, and Freddie Hendrix on trumpets. Titles include "Drum Thing", "Is It Real", "Philly Blues", "Maasai Moves", "Studder", and "Wheels Suite".

One long piece from this jazz quartet that includes Darius Jones on alto, Andrew Smiley on guitar, Travis Laplante on tenor, and Jason Nazary on drums – yet a work that's way more gentle and poetic than you might expect! While most other groups might aim for freer noise on a track this long, these guys serve up these beautifully shifting tones and colors – almost a musical accompaniment to a few lovely words about seasonal change on the inside of the package – vivid, but in a subtle way, with some really great interplay between the guitar and saxes.

The essence of Duke Ellington – but in the hands of William Parker, it's a very different thing than you might expect! The group here is larger than usual for Parker – a great ensemble used in ways that definitely echo some of Ellington's more inventive scoring, especially his mature use of tone and color – yet both the solos and ensemble moments go way way farther than anything the Duke might have imagined – all the bold, righteous brilliance that we've come to love in Parker's own recordings – focused back on one of his greatest inspirations. The lineup is quite impressive – as musicians include Roy Campbell on trumpet, Ras Moshe on tenor and soprano, Rob Brown and Darius Jones on alto, Sabir Mateen on clarinet and tenor, Steve Swell on trombone, Dave Burrell on piano, Hamid Drake on drums, and Parker himself on bass – and titles include "Take The Coltrane", "Essence Of Sophisticated Lady/Sophisticated Lady", "Caravan", "Essence Of Ellington", "Take The A Train/Ebony Interlude", and "Portrait Of Louisiana".