Silk, a regular drummer with Soweto Kinch, gratefully used the BBC's financial support to study composition with Maria Schneider and Vince Mendoza. This second album with his Big Band is the first result, adding a 13-piece string section, and aiming to put this still bigger band's intricate and distinct cogs through their paces. It's an imposing ship to steer, but, à la Ellington, soloists' characters shine through. Languid trumpet lines ease their way past strident brass fanfares, while dreamy piano swirls around sinuously swooning sax in ‘Prelude’, contrasting with ‘Fragment’'s funk strut and ‘Withdrawals’’ pastoral strings. Best of all is ‘Barefeet’, which begins with the romance of a 1940s dance, and is marked by castanet-like, drum-kit percussion. The album, though, lacks any greater purpose than marvelling at and mastering the machinery at Silk's disposal. Tapping the emotional resources to match his burgeoning compositional technique is the next step.