Since Ornette Coleman's radical agenda included setting jazz free from harmonic constraints, he rarely went in for hiring keyboardists. Dave Bryant, who was with Ornette's electric band Prime Time during the 1990s, was one of the few exceptions. Bryant on Night Visitors pays tribute to his mentor (he studied with him during the 1980s too) by applying the alto sax legend's system of harmolodics, broadly a principle by which the musical elements are democratized. The bassist Charnett Moffett, whose father Charles played with Ornette in the 1960s, is Bryant's other associate on Night Visitors with Coleman: they were in the band together during that period. Bryant's diverse range and application of keyboard sonics underlines his open-ended approach. On the steaming ‘Lime Pickle’ he invokes the spirit of Paul Bley (another one in Ornette's exclusive club) on acoustic piano with scurrying blues-infused lines. He doubles on what sounds like Wurlitzer and synth with a linear yet splashy melodic drive on ‘Chiuahua Powell’ that has an infectious Zappa-ish flavour; the same instrumentation on the coolly swaggering ‘Sonic 80’ produces something akin to a raw Faces Rod-the-Mod pub blues. The only Ornette original ‘Dee Dee’ has a simmering retro cool about it with Bryant's Hammond playfully quoting licks from blues, R&B and bop conventions. The hyper-energetic Moffett and drummer-percussionist Bendian ensure the interplay is razor-sharp. On the closing three-part title suite energy levels are reduced with something more pensive and conversational, the trio seamlessly shifting the conversation between the abstract and diatonic until the leader's Zawinul-ish analogue synth snakes around over a funky afro-groove. The genre net is open wide, but it's a focussed, largely transparent and cohesive record.