Titled after the Chuo-Sen, the subway train line that connects up the jazz clubs in Tokyo, Central Line signals a return to Art Hirahara's Japanese roots. Originally from the Bay Area and, since 2003, a Brooklynite, Hirahara was raised and educated in the US. On his third album for the Posi-Tone label, the pianist-composer injects an elegant blend of classic post-bop piano, watery ‘impressionist’ and ‘romantic’ classical music and latin fusion elements. Alongside this, a pair of Japanese folk songs mark his connection to his homeland's ancestors, although their infusion with Americana reflects his divided loyalties. Guest saxophonist Donny McCaslin, in a straighter ahead mode than with his own band, is on the money, for example demonstrating an aching Dexter Gordon-like melancholy on the ballad ‘Astray’. For his part, Hirahara plays everything with a tender touch and sumptuous fluidity in the best tradition of the contemporary mainstream.