Rava, now into his fourth quartercentury, continues to go from strength to strength and, after a period on ECM in the mid-1970s, his series of albums with them in the past decade is impressive. The group here differs from the 2011 quintet set Tribe in dropping the piano of Giovanni Guidi in favour of guitar, with Diodati helping to make things more spacey. Not that there isn't a considerable amount of energy on display, from the closing ‘Frogs’ to the new version of the rather Colemanish ‘Infant’. The dedications of ‘Cornette’ and ‘Monkitos’ are fairly obvious but the approach to solos is always melodic, and the one track labelled ‘Improvisation’ is still consistent with the mood of the rest. Even ‘Wild Dance’, which begins with Petrella essaying a bit of multiphonics, doesn't break the spell while ‘Happy Shades’, perhaps the head most reminiscent of early Ornette, manages to combine a feel of collective improv with the prevailing lyricism. The trombonist, incidentally, doesn't play on every track, but is an excellent front-line partner for Rava.