Unusually for both Rogers and Binney – and Cleaver, too, for that matter – this is basically a modern blowing session. These are tunes by Charlie Parker (the contrapuntal ‘Ah-Leu-Cha’), Wayne Shorter (‘Africaine’ from his Jazz Messengers days), Miles (the uptempo 12-bar, ‘Sippin’ at Bells'), Freddie Hubbard (his CTI period's ‘Skydive’) and Monk's seldomheard ‘Introspection’. All this plus three well-chosen pop standards, with Rogers' personal choice of ‘My Ship’ and Binney's ‘In Love in Vain’ particularly interesting. Rogers (who first played here at Ronnie Scott's as a dep for Pat Metheny with a Michael Brecker group) has since developed into one of the most mellow of the current guitarists and is consistently inventive throughout, while Binney is at his most exciting, swinging really hard at every opportunity. This writer remembers one critic dismissing Reuben Rogers as ‘distinctly inferior’ when he first played in London with the Mulgrew Miller trio. He is now one of the most in-demand bassists on the scene and, as for Cleaver, who excels in every conceivable vein of music, he shows he can play straightahead and swing with the very best. An extremely good record.