We expect great things from Leeds these days, in no small part thanks to the influence of Jamil Sheriff, who teaches at the Leeds College of Music. Sheriff is an accomplished composer/pianist in his own right, of course. Following on from his acclaimed 2007 octet album, Backchat, comes this smart collection of nine originals that’s twice as big in scale – that is, there are twice as many people blowing and banging away to make the 16-strong big band’s satisfyingly rich sound. The writing is strong and deeply infused with a love of hard bop – and melodic and harmonic complexity: there’s a lot more going on here than a simple string of heads and solos. ‘T.T.F.’ is poised meeting between Jamie Taylor’s restlessly inquisitive fusion guitar and Tori Freestone’s carefree, fluttering flute work, with exquisite mediation from the horn section, while ‘Blues Through The Night’ is an irresistible, and very fresh, blast of backwards-looking straightahead big band bop.