The in-car blindfold test drew the appropriate double-edged response from a hip spouse: “Is this some people trying to sound like Ellington?” – of course, she doesn't need to tell me about the perils and trials of this kind of undertaking. You’re getting off to a head start when choosing tunes mostly recorded originally by small-group forces, and mostly obscure ones at that. One of the two well-known items, ‘Rockin’ In Rhythm’, suffers from trying to replicate the closing ensemble with five reeds rather than five reeds and seven brass, and even a couple of small-group tunes cry out for a trumpet rather than alto playing the lead. Still, this has a good feeling about it and, as usual, it helps that the soloists try to be themselves rather than imitate someone iconic like Hodges, Webster, Gonsalves or Carney – in this laudable aim, Foster and Smulyan come off best, while LaBarbera is the proverbial swinging drummer. I’m glad they revived Webster's ballad ‘Love's Away’, previously only attempted by myself and Frank Griffith, but in a more general sense this programme generally succeeds on its own terms.