Last year’s EP release Like Lambs was a nice reminder that the quartet Empirical are still going strong with their artistically progressive take on jazz. Now the ensemble release their sixth full-length album that’s also their first since 2016’s Connection.

Made up of compositions written by bassist Tom Farmer, Wonder is the Beginning has guest appearances from a high-calibre pairing of cross-generational UK-based musicians: the ex-Wayne Shorter/Sting sideman Jason Rebello and the striking young saxophonist Alex Hitchcock. They both make contributions that are both elegantly articulated and full of purpose, as well as adding something of real substance to the band’s material. Hitchcock’s shapely, swooping tenor phrases both bond and contrast with Facey’s wiry, bittersweet alto on two of the strongest tracks: the opener ‘Naitoku’ and the tender, but never schmaltzy, ballad ‘True Cost’. Their versions of Farmer’s attractive, dreamy, mood-setting themes – boosted by Lewis Wright’s painterly free-flowing vibraphone - touch on classical music as well as a broad net of 1960s jazz modernism.

The ensemble interaction to some extent can be said to be derived from the open-ended, free bop-ish approach of Wayne Shorter’s late quartet. The urgency and tight-knit ensemble play are still there, even if it’s a more mature, reflective development on previous albums.