The American saxophonist first came to critical notice playing on McCoy Tyner's 1973 Milestone album, Enlightenment, and went on to record and tour with Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis. By the end of the decade his name was synonymous with top quality, emotionally charged spiritual modal jazz, and that is what's presented here. The ‘Elementals’ of the title reference the spirits which, ancients believed, governed the four elements of nature: earth, wind, fire and water. On this album, they channel classic quartet-era John Coltrane through a McCoy Tyner aesthetic. Azar Lawrence, strong and centred on both tenor and soprano sax, delivers fluent pentatonics with a controlled emotional rush and pianist Benito Gonzales' vamps and lines nail Tyner's approach. The template is completed, and given an upgrade, by drummer Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith's precise, funk-fuelled polyrhythmic thrust. The set opens with the fiery ‘La Bossa’ and continues with ‘Eye of the Needle’, a two-chord modal frolic in 6/8. The title-track, the third of six Lawrence originals, features lean tenor sax over a vigorous keyboard vamp, swings on the bridge and strides forth over feisty walking bass. Elsewhere, a cover of the Coltrane-associated ballad ‘Easy to Remember’ is lovely and ‘Solar Winds’ features wah-wah soprano sax, meditational textures and a steady hip hop beat. The form is also tweaked by samba, Afro-beat and counterpoint grooves on the three Gonzales originals – ‘Brazillian Girls’, ‘African Chant’ and ‘Sing to the World’ respectively. Here, bassist Jeff Littleton's tough attack locks into Smith's drumming to give the classic style a contemporary edge.