The veteran pianist Lewis Porter has an impressive résumé with his work behind the scenes as academic and author, having written a critically acclaimed Coltrane biography. He's lesser-known as a performer in spite of appearances and recordings with the likes of Dave Liebman and Marc Ribot among others. On this new piano trio album he boasts a sterling US rhythm section in John Patitucci and Terri Lyne Carrington. Porter's ‘Birthplace’ is dedicated to John Coltrane with guest Tia Fuller on soprano saxophone with its loose-limbed, shape-shifting language indebted to the Wayne Shorter quartet, of which Patitucci is, of course, a long-time member, while Porter reveals his debt to McCoy Tyner. ‘From Giovanni to Jimmy’ is another Coltrane group-inspired piece, and a love letter to Jimmy Garrison from Patitucci. The standard ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ is mellower, but more Jarrett than Coltrane, while nothing really happens on Porter's interpretation of the gospel classic ‘People Get Ready’, and the similarly lacklustre Indo-jazzy ‘Dazzling Raga’, both pointing to the leader's allegiances to baby-boomer music counterculture without a sense of experimentation. But it's the driving force of the classy rhythm section that saves the date.