Solo horn recordings were fairly rare when these four tracks were recorded, back in 1976, for trombone players in particular. Lewis was just 24, but he had already been a member of the AACM for five years, and was playing with Anthony Braxton as well as touring internationally with Count Basie. He was, in other words, more than up to the challenge. That said, the opening track isn’t really solo at all: it’s a trombone trio. It’s just that all three parts, as the title makes clear, were recorded by Lewis. Over its 20 minutes, ‘Toneburst (Piece for Three Trombones Simultaneously)’ demonstrates both a debt to the tradition – there are hints of Ellington – and a real sense of moving that tradition forward. Elsewhere there are hints of lively R&B (‘Phenomenology’) as well as another nod to the tradition, in a gorgeous version of Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Lush Life’. Lewis proves that he can do tender lyricism as well as avant-garde bubbles and gurgles; his technical mastery is compelling throughout.