When he was known as Juan Amalbert and led the Latin Jazz quintet in the 1960s, Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim worked with such giants as Pharoah Sanders and Eric Dolphy before moving to Denmark in the 1980s, continuing the trend of African-American artists who traded a lack of freedom in America for a piece of respect in Europe.

This set, pooling both his compatriots and local players, notably a young Hasse Poulsen on guitar, is as good as one would expect given the leader’s pedigree.

Spirit-raising Afro-Latin rhythms abound, with the workouts in 6/8 being particularly enticing, and Abdul-Rahim is to be commended for having been able to bring astute subtleties to the sound palette, certainly in the inclusion of Christian Sievert’s acoustic guitar, even though there is a strong percussive momentum throughout. The thicket of bata, congas, bongas, timbales, shekere and guiro that melds with the rhythm section is finely handled and Abdul-Rahim is a skilled rhythm player and bandleader who centres the music well, ensuring the material is richly layered but not overly dense.