Dan Mar-Molinero is an educator, saxophonist and composer working out of Southampton University’s very active jazz programme: you’ll find him involved in mentoring youth orchestras, combining jazz ensembles with generative AI programmes, and all manner of other forward-looking activities. Somehow, he has also found the time to write a suite of long, ambitious pieces for large ensemble, and record them with a very accomplished band enhanced with a couple of celebrity ringers – Julian Argüelles lends his unmistakeably acidic tone to ’22:22’ and Jasper Høiby supplies a dramatic introduction to the modal folk-tinged ‘Three Men Make A Tiger’. Mar-Molinero deploys his generously sized woodwind and brass sections with verve and imagination, with a hefty trombone presence adding plenty of depth. Special mention should also go to Rob Johnston on guitar and Ben Oliver on piano for their discreetly inventive commentaries, and there’s a lovely flugelhorn solo on ‘Home’ but overall this is all about the writing: long pieces that evolve gently through an ever-changing flow of texture and density over quietly pulsing straight-eight rhythms, with a light and accessible melodic touch and an impressive level of detail, all executed with superb precision by the ensemble. Fans of contemporary big band writing will find much to delight them, and practitioners will be delighted to hear that all the scores are available for free download.