I've always had a soft spot for the Fresh Sound New Talent label. It's Jordi Pujol's special baby and shows how sincere he is about helping young musicians. He's given many young Americans as well as Spanish players their initial album launch. People like Robert Glasper, Jeremy Pelt and Brad Mehldau were on quite a few of the label's early releases. Trumpeter Jonathan Saraga is one of the latest. And his band is excellent. Saraga is obviously very aware of the direction of jazz in his hometown of New York, but his interpretation is much more low key than, say, Akinmusire's, maybe more in the vein of Tom Harrell, but very personal. His frontline partner is another exceptional player, altoist Remy Le Boeuf (of Boeuf Brothers Band fame), who also has a strong personality of his own. The material comprises five Saraga compositions – all dreamy, but full of optimism, with a special mention for the gripping opener, ‘Uprising’ – Cedar Walton's ‘Firm Roots’, which seems to be getting covered a lot lately, the standout ‘Sabbath Prayer’ and the underused Beatles song ‘The Fool On the Hill’ (totally reconstructed). Strangely, they all seem to melt into each other. As a section, and as soloists, piano, bass and drums are thoroughly empathetic with the horns, adding further to this album's appeal. I've been playing this interesting CD a lot recently and it continues to go on rewarding with every listen.