This album follows Herwig’s Latin Side of John Coltrane, bringing a septet approach to some of McCoy Tyner’s works and reinterpreting them in a more focused Latin format. The band is accomplished and very slick at playing these new arrangements, and a track such as ‘Reaching Fourth’, with the ensemble pointing out the melodic structure, immediately makes us conscious of the form in McCoy’s piece, first recorded on his 1963 trio with Henry Grimes and Roy Haynes. Herwig’s opening solo is a fine piece of trombone agility, yet the whole piece lacks the uninhibited, sparkling, uptempo fire of McCoy’s original.

‘African Village’ plods along, but where’s the thrill of the interaction with Bobby Hutcherson and Freddy Waits on Time For Tyner? Pianist Eddie Palmieri guests on ‘Walk Spirit Talk Spirit’ with a deep solo introduction that reminds us of his impeccable Latin credentials.

But then when the band comes in, we go back to thinking of McCoy and Joe Lovano jousting on this, live at Yoshi’s in 2006, and there’s no comparison. If this sounds negative, it’s not meant to be, as this is a valuable reassessment of McCoy’s work, and when the band really fires as it does on “Passion Dance’ – stoked up by the percussion of Ameena and Molina – it works really well. It’s a shame the inhibitions aren’t shed a little more often, and that the band sometimes really fails to let go, but it’s a valuable chance to reassess McCoy’s work, and if nothing else to point us back to his impressive catalogue.