Everything runs like clockwork on Home is Here, the third album from saxophonist/bandleader Felipe Salles. His big band writing is fastidious, busy, and challenging for anything but the most well-drilled of ensembles, but in the Interconnections Ensemble, he has a perfect vehicle for his voice, which takes us through a vast spectrum of grooves – Afro-Cuban ideas, Brazilian chorino, hard swing, tango – on this pleasingly constructed album.

“There’s an anthropological curiosity underneath this whole project,” Salles says. His approach to selecting a lineup involved finding a cross-section of soloists mid-Covid, learning more about their stories, and eventually writing a piece reflecting what Salles saw in their playing. What results is a really rich snapshot of each individual: highlights include Melissa Aldana’s grace on ‘Storytelling’, Yosvany Terry on the ever-bustling ‘World Citizen’, and Nadje Noordhuis’ punchy ‘Wanderlust’.

The gaze is firmly on Salles’ guests, but the real stars of this record are the Interconnections Ensemble themselves. Opener ‘Re-Invention’ is a microcosm for the whole project, a 10-minute blast through a blaze of rhythms, styles and textures that are well-populated but never hard on the ear. It’s a hugely exciting listen.