I’ve only seen Zirilli play live once, and he was quite a fireball. Here he's all delicacy and laid-back restraint, serving the cause, you could say. His two-guitar pairing allows these fine players to inter-weave their virtuoso capabilities in a series of quick-fingered outpourings whose stylistic range encompasses bebop, post-bop, South American pieces and ‘eastern world music’. As Zirilli himself puts it, “For me, jazz is the house of all music.”

Just to observe how Zirobop handles Monk's timeless ‘In Walked Bud’ and then ‘Moose The Moose’ (this with Luft and Zirilli as a duo is to marvel at the intricacy of their playing and the clever mutual understanding they have developed as a group over their ten-year span. Mind you, any pretensions to quiet absorption in a melody are discarded in the extremely lively version of Mullov-Abbado's ‘No Moore Booze’ which receives a torrid examination, with all involved at fever pitch, notably Zirilli whose unabashed energy is a standout. In contrast, Steve Swallow's ‘Ladies in Mercedes’ has a bossa feel, the guitar line limpid at first, the drums quiescent, and builds in intensity, Mullov-Abbado's bass solo eloquent, the backdrop soft and sensitive. ‘The Windup’ has a stompy feel, the repeated motif engaging and rackety while ‘Magnolia’ is quietly reflective. Thirteen tracks, highly varied and often quite startling. Almost a new kind of jazz, really. That's Zirobop.