Those with long memories will know that Cary has been one of the significant pianists to emerge from America in the past two decades. His pedigree runs from early sideman gigs with Abbey Lincoln to his current stint with David Murray, but the Focus Trio is his main creative outlet. This latest release finds him on stellar form as a soloist and bandleader-composer. Thus far the acoustic and electric have more or less been mutually exclusive in Cary’s output, but here they intermingle to dazzling effect as the use of the yearning, very vocalised sound of analogue keyboards, particularly the Fender Rhodes, meshes with the rich glow of Rahsaan Carter’s double bass and the fizzing percussive drive of Sameer Gupta’s drums.

Given the stylistic openness with which Cary composes and the sharp reflexes of his accompanists, the result is music that wheels almost relentlessly through the various schools of thought that exist within the jazz canon, and it is the way the trio straddles the funky and the free, particularly on the reprise of John McLaughlin’s ‘Spectrum’ that impresses most. The deeply emotive neo-soul resonances of ‘Indigenous’ come a close second and the sombre but stately Betty Carter tribute ‘Waltz Betty Waltz’, a nod to one of Cary’s early significant leaders, is also striking for its bluesy 3/4 strut. With a wide range of colours, rhythmic invention and above all wistful melodicism, Four Directions is more than another piano trio record. This is an electro-acoustic tour de force that stands on the conviction that innovation can spring from deep within traditions rather than tradition.