This is a new twist on the spiritual jazz which underpins Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Records. A founder member of The Cinematic Orchestra, Ellis is trying to express, as his album's title suggests, both humanity's evolutionary journey so far and what may yet be necessary, as the Earth's natural balance teeters on the brink. Anyone with the genius to truly encompass all that via jazz would be solving our eco-crises themselves. But from the birdsong brass of opener ‘Flight’ to the warping synths of ‘A Bigger Cake’, there is an affecting, meditative pulse to this music. Pete Turner's bass-plucks act like rungs as ‘The Ladder’ climbs, while the growing influence of the great musical nation of Mali on jazz sees kora players representing tradition, alongside electronics and a beatboxer's updated vocalese. Seeds and dreams, roots and branches: if Ellis's spell doesn't always grip, it's one that is well worth casting.