Heard here lately collaborating with singer Barb Jungr, and for a long time before in the shadow of Kurt Elling, Hobgood is an inventive and original soloist and composer. Despite the excellent contributions of Patitucci and Scott (heard recently with his own Blue Note album We Are The Drum, reviewed in Jazzwise 203), the emphasis is firmly on the pianist. Three somewhat shorter tracks are standards – a polyrhythmic ‘Give Me The Simple Life’, ‘Straighten Up And Fly Right’ in a counter-intuitive 7/4, and an initially more rhapsodic workout on Stevie Wonder's ‘If It's Magic’. The other five are originals, all very different from each other, notwithstanding the occasional reminiscence, ‘The Road Home’ recalling the funky grooves (but not the solos) of Jarrett and ‘Shirakumo No Michi’ evoking Debussy. Sporadic mid-solo quotes, for instance from ‘Swinging On A Star’ or Parker's ‘Au Privave’, reveal Hobgood's broad hinterland, but as an overall experience the album is both varied and impressive.