Irabagon is still best known to many as saxophonist with the archly po-mo ensemble Mostly Other People Do The Killing but, on the strength of this outing alone, he deserves to emerge as a major voice in his own right. On the face of it, these eight originals employ some of the same tactics as MOPDTK; playfully dipping in and out of various genre bags – from bracing free-bop to midtempo bounce to jaunty jump to free-form seethe – but there's a spontaneity and manoeuvrability here that leaves the others for dust. Altschul and Helias have been working together as a rhythm section since the late 1970s, and bring a masterful control and repartee to Irabagon's open-ended compositions, the best of which present generous opportunities for relaxed group improvisation. You can virtually hear instantaneous collective ideas popping into existence like cartoon light bulbs above the trio's heads. Even so, Irabagon directs the show, with an astonishing facility for kneading decidedly ‘out’ extended techniques into deceptively ‘in’ statements. Good-natured but always determinedly serious, this is a masterful set.