John Escreet’s latest album, a sax-and-rhythm quartet, balances trenchant acoustic modernism with the avant-garde and conjures strong emotions with angular musical shapes. Saxophonist Mark Turner is on board, and the rhythm section is the same one that made Escreet’s recent piano trio album, Seismic Shift, such a success. Bassist Eric Revis, long-term mainstay of the Branford Marsalis Quartet and drummer Damion Reid, whose multiple credits range from Steve Coleman to the Robert Glasper Trio, embellish and underpin each rhythmic twist. Turner, playing with harder-than-usual edge, dives into the rhythmic intrigue and solos with vigour.

The album opens with 'Call it What it Is', a blast of contemporary jazz references which opens with serrated lines and rumbles to a peak. The title track comes next, a mix of modal left-hand chords, twinkling piano abstractions and elegiac tenor sax. And then the driving walking bass swing of Stanley Cowell’s 'Departure No 1', one of two covers in this intriguing set, is followed by the sonic abstractions and rhythmic breakdowns of 'Meltdown'.

Stylistic range confirmed, the quartet purposefully romp through a rich narrative landscape. Turner’s wispy rounded tone contrasts with Escreet’s resonant piano voice and Revis’ steady acoustic bass balances drummer Reid’s fractured rolls and whip-crack time-bendy beats. Three Escreet originals deliver sharp-angled themes, tense interplay and solos that really count. In contrast, 'Erato', written by the late Andrew Hill, unfolds at a gorgeous mid-tempo lope.