In complete contrast to his outstanding big band interpretation of Wayne Shorter's music, David Weiss' follow-up is a highly personal statement. Motivated by his emotions at the loss suffered by many of his closest friends (the premature death shortly after this recording of bassist Dwayne Burno, so highly respected by all his colleagues, the tragic shooting in the Sandy Hook School massacre of tenorman Jimmy Greene's seven year old daughter and the passing of so many of our music's icons), Weiss' compositions and arrangements for his reformed Sextet are so imaginatively scored that it sounds like a tentet. They have a depth and density that leave one emotionally drained. With the exception of his Freddie Hubbard tribute (‘The Intrepid Hub’) and perhaps British pianist John Taylor's ‘White Magic’, most of the music is extremely sombre. ‘When Words Fail, Music Speaks’ is for Burno who, it later transpired, did the sessions while suffering from pneumonia, ‘Loss’ is for label boss Jana Herzen's late father and ‘Passage Into Eternity’ is for Jimmy Greene's family. Every track has something special (there's even a tune by our own underrated Graham Collier), with Weiss' title track and ‘Wayward’ arguably standing out, with mesmerising solos throughout the album by every member of this genuinely all-star group. Myron Waldon's heart-wrenching efforts particularly memorable. But Marcus is on top form, too, especially on the ‘Hub’ track and Weiss himself turns in probably his best solo work to date, showing an unexpectedly tender side. Davis, Burno and EJ work wonderfully well together and apart and guitarist Eunsen shows much promise on his two titles. David Weiss' creative contributions to contemporary jazz continue. How commercial – who knows? But it's a brilliant record.