Has any Coltrane disciple trodden his chosen path so faithfully in recent years? The Manchester tenor/soprano man might have come to jazz and the saxophone via reggae, and played funk, rock and hip hop fusions of jazz in the 1980s and 1990s, but in this century it's mid- to late-Coltrane territory – what the Steely Dan men wryly referred to as ‘religious saxophoning’ – that has become Birchall's favoured stamping ground. This, his eighth album, comprises five pieces. That they do not sound dissimilar is probably immaterial. Each is a vehicle for the saxophonist to go in search of some higher place, beginning with a simple theme and then slowly building to a state of busy, high intensity. Their titles stress how high Birchall is aiming: ‘Love In The Cosmos’, ‘Ocean Of Truth’, ‘Light Of All Worlds’ are three. With two drummers rumbling and stirring beneath, and Fairhall and Bardon shadowing Birchall in his spiritual quest, the music is never going to remain earthbound for long.