French clarinettist/composer Louis Sclavis is now into double figures with his projects for ECM. His new group features the same players as his Atlas Trio, which released 2012's Sources, but supplemented with the presence of Iranian classical percussionist Keyvan Chemirani, master of the zarb. “Silk and Salt indicates my desire for this work to take an imaginary, nomadic, Central Asian route,” explains Sclavis, “but also to address the idea of emigration in world history. In this case: journeying away from and back to jazz.” The journey – across landscapes, between genres – is particularly rich in atmosphere on the likes of ‘Cortège’, which gives Chemirani a chance to unpack his full bag of textural tricks while Sclavis's clarinet flashes moody arabesques over the top. Gilles Coronado is a wonderful feel player in the mould of Robert Fripp, although in the less angular, more ambient passages here a better comparison might be Bill Frisell, while Benjamin Moussay brings an electric urgency to the likes of ‘Dust and Dogs’.