Like any significant improviser who has grown from the fertile soil of history, Ivo Perelman has notable references. The Brazilian saxophonist has a smoky, vaporous sensuality when he plays a slow descending line that recalls Ike Quebec but when he attacks the upper range of the instrument his tone is piercingly hot and thin, not unlike post-war R&B as well as avant-garde stylists, from Walker to Ayler. All these sonic contrasts are appealing. Most importantly, the models are used to create a personal style, which is loose and languid in phrasing but has dramatic, urgent pitch bending that gives some of his lines a kind of air raid siren character.

Perelman, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey, both of whom are assertive and responsive players, produce gripping moments of interaction and invention, A case in point is the agitated and agile ‘Mystical Vibration’, in which the trio injects a folksy slow drag with juddering horn rhythms, languorous arco wails and fizzing sixteenths of cymbal and snare so that the effect is deeply African, like sacred chants set to scrapes of mbira, It compounds the sense of trance that is set to an unsteady rather than steady pulse. Having said that, the coda of ‘Life’s Meaning’, is an irresistible piece of dance music, with its snap ‘n’ tap rimshots that evoke a crazy samba beat running in reverse, acting as a reminder that the primal, earthiness of carnival traditions is also part of Perelman’s birthright. His relentless output, one of the most voluminous in contemporary creative music, shows no sign of compromise or lessening of intensity, and this latest provocative release is a ringing endorsement of his ability to keep finding new territory to explore, which here has an explicitly spiritual dimension.