Joe Acheson works here with a group he originally described as an "imagined orchestra" – but which here is actually a relatively large group of musicians coming together to follow Joe's lead! The players shift from track to track, and Joe himself handles a lot of the instrumentation – on piano, basses, keyboards, percussion, and even some field recordings and zither as well – all layered in a sonically complex way that echoes some of the London experiments in recent years, augmented by other work on cello, trumpet, drums, bass clarinet, and trombone. The sound is often dark, but with these warm currents of hope – and titles include "Skylarks", "Nightfall", "Ripple", "Broken", "Cage Then Brick", "Reverse Learning", "Little Buddy Move", and "Hammered". CD

Truly tremendous work from saxophonist Kamasi Washington – a set that may well even blow away his groundbreaking Epic album – given the scope of soul and spirit in the music! As with the previous project, this one's double-length, but maybe feels even more fitted to the mode – as Washington leads this incredible ensemble that unifies a jazz group, orchestra, and choir – all at a level that might even top some of Alice Coltrane's early 70s albums for Impulse! There's a richness in vision here right from the start – music that knows what it is, where it's going, and what it can accomplish – very personal, but also very welcoming too – just the right sort of spirit to help get the nation back on track! Washington blows tenor throughout – and gets great help from Cameron Graves on piano, Brandon Coleman on organ and keyboards, and Miles Mosley on bass – whose work alone really seems to drive the proceedings! Titles include "Can You Hear Him", "Fists Of Fury", "Will You Sing", "Journey", "Street Fighter Mas", "The Space Travelers Lullaby", "The Psalmnist", "One Of One", and "The Invincible Youth". Comes with a bonus CD called The Choice – with the Kamasi-composed "The Secret Of Jinsonson", "Agents Of Multiverse" and "My Family", plus covers of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "Ooh Child" – it's another 38 minutes of music hidden in the center of the cover! CD

Beautifully slow-building work from Ennio Morricone – caught right at that near-perfect start of the 70s point when he was a master of understatement and spare musical elements! Many numbers begin with a sound that's often very spare – sliding out of the darkness sometimes with just a whisper, sometimes with a bit more force – woodwinds hidden in the shadows, piano murmuring softly, or strings that slide slowly once, then strike with more force the next time around. There's also a cool whistling bit that snakes through a few of the best tunes – a haunting theme with Alessandroni-type appeal – and the orchestrations for the album were conducted by Bruno Nicolai. The sound isn't as sweetly gliding as you might expect, but it's also not as atonal as other Morricone moments too. Titles include "In Pieno Petto", "Il Movente", "Senza Motivo Apparente", "Ricera", and "Sospensione Folle". LP, Vinyl record album