Three years ago the O'Higgins/Luft alliance mined a rich vein covering the songs of Coltrane and Monk on the appropriately monickered Plays Monk & Trane. Now they've embedded that experience with an album of their own material, complemented by covers of Monk's ‘Four in One’ and the inevitable ‘Giant Steps’. The underlying vibe remains the same: O’Higgins taps into his long love of tenor men like Henderson and Brecker, his hard but never oppressive swing anchoring Luft's more charm-ful, visionary flights. It's a potent mix, especially with Stanley's piano on board, providing more harmonic space. O’Higgins takes most writing credits, whether on the Coltrane sonorities of the title track or on the urgent complexity of ‘Vague Recollection’. But Luft's songs, be it the lushly melodic 'South Wind’ or the Latin-tinged ‘Gayetski’ provide a rich contrast to O’Higgins’ work. And when the two sing together as on ‘Ballad for Barry’, it quite takes your breath away.