French-resident vibraphonist Jim Hart used to be one of the pivotal figures on the London contemporary jazz scene as a co-founder of the innovative LOOP Collective over a decade and a half ago. Cloudmakers Trio is his impressive collaborative-leaning ensemble; it boasts one of the strongest UK-based rhythm sections in Michael Janisch and Dave Smith. For their fifth album Cloudmakers are joined by the high-profile Argentinian pianist Leo Genovese, who initially hit headlines as a sideman with Esperanza Spalding. Genovese is at the heart of the action with a voluble presence that shifts the direction of the band away from its previously airy, pared-down soundscape.

The sound has opened up and gets close to free-blowing in places in spite of Genovese’s adventurous takes on harmony. Hart’s spookily tuneful writing is quite striking, especially on the excellent ‘True at the Same Time’ with pianist and vibraphonist taking killer solos; other highlights are Genovese’s effervescent blues-soaked solo on ‘Voodoo Grave’ and the Bitches Brew-ish ‘Back to the Brink’.

There are shades of Pink Floyd on ‘Where There’s a Will’ with Genovese on Prophet synth and ‘An Ocean of Drops’ is a diverting, spikily frenetic avant-improv vibes-piano duet that proves a surprisingly stimulating percussion discussion; only on the ambitious opener ‘Winds of Change’ do the ensemble seem unable to gel. There are nods throughout to late-acoustic Wayne Shorter, with whom Genovese recorded, in a direct sense on Hart’s Shorter-dedicated ballad ‘Dearly Departed’ in which Genovese’s wonderfully poised chords delicately outline the leader’s harmonically journeying theme.