Philly-born Kurt Rosenwinkel was still a relative newcomer when this album of standards – released in 1999 on CD only, and making its first-ever appearance on vinyl for Record Store Day 2023 (22 April) – first came out, but it garnered enough attention and sales to establish him as an exciting prospect.

Here, his dry (there's little reverb or delay) lines include long figures built on repeated riffs and almost arhythmic abstractions, sometimes reminiscent of Pat Metheny. Kanan's piano backing is often fragmented, which matches the leader's approach, while the bass and drums play it relatively straight and swinging, helping keep the listener's attention. The LP contains a lot of familiar tunes, but the readings of bop classics such as ‘Conception’ and ‘Sippin’ at Bells’ are among the more interesting versions of these much-played classics. The fairly straight version of ‘Darn That Dream’ is less compelling, but I do like the slow-paced version of ‘Summertime’ and Rosenwinkel's solos in ‘When Sunny Gets Blue’ demonstrate his talent for thinking outside of the guitar box.

There's only one original here, Kanan's ‘Epiphany’, which is a pity, as the pianist is a decent composer who works well with Rosenwinkel – it’d be good to hear more of this partnership. Lovely sound on vinyl too, by the way.