None other than Quincy Jones saw something very special in this now London-based drummer when he saw him perform in the big band at the Royal Welsh College of Music. “An unbelievable drummer” and “a 360-degree beautiful young cat” are two quotes Howell will always cherish. Another mentor, Jimmy Cobb's jaw was also dropping at the arrival of this young talent. All of which raises the expectation levels considerably for his debut album, the title of which refers to the drummer's battles with brain malfunctions and subsequent neurosurgery, with some of the compositions being written from his hospital bed. Winning the Peter Whittingham Development Award in 2012, Howell is now in his mid-twenties and his band consists of two members from the trio Partikel, bassist Max Luthert and saxophonist Duncan Eagles, a promising-sounding young trumpeter Mark Perry and pianist Matt Robinson of Reuben Fowler's big band. Howell's writing mixes the yearning, pastoral jazz of the Jan Garbarek-Keith Jarrett groups and Kenny Wheeler, and their lyrical British disciples such as Julian Argüelles and more recent alumnus Adam Waldmann and his Kairos 4tet. Otherwise the restless, funk-bop collective improv sound points to the early Dave Holland group and the New York scene's more intricate experiments with rhythm and meter. Besides originals there's a percussively restless version of the Swedish folk song turned standard ‘Dear Old Stockholm’. You can hear what Quincy might have seen in Howell's musicianship in terms of his craft, energy and spirit, but this is only the start of his innings as a leader and composer.