The group name is obviously meant to imply a more filling repast than Dolphy’s famous Out To Lunch!, which of course used a similar instrumentation. Despite being sometimes more rock-influenced in the rhythm department, it has the same combination of textural lightness and improvisational seriousness. Keberle is the go-to trombonist for people like Maria Schneider and also busy with his own projects, whereas the bass and drums team of Kozlov and Royston is hard to beat (as heard in Kozlov’s own recent album First Things First, reviewed in Jazzwise 271). Perhaps less known so far are saxophonist Cornelius, whose own latest work on Whirlwind has Michael Janisch on bass, and vibist Gillace – neither of them sound like Dolphy or Hutcherson (just to bury that analogy), but both are impressive soloists.

The seven, relatively short tracks are quite varied and mostly original material, but a surprise is the next-to-last piece, an arrangement of British pianist-vibist Victor Feldman’s tune ‘Joshua’ (recorded by Miles on Seven Steps To Heaven). Like everything else here, it’s brimming with energy and commitment, and underlines the musical health of the NYC scene.