This 17-piece big-band collective is inevitably unwieldy, and quixotically impractical. But in letting its members write large-scale compositions, otherwise unlikely good work surfaces. The eight long pieces here are given brief, fictive back-stories of varying use. Some respond to the generous lengths available with an episodic sense of narrative, as in Liam Dunachie’s bustling title-track. James Davison’s ‘The Boy Roy’ seizes his chance for New Orleans swagger. There’s classical music by other means, and nods to jazz cinema scores, as with Scott Chapman’s ‘Barcarolle’, which suggests an amiable, St. Tropez-set yarn with a middle-aged star. Solos add jazz life: James Copus’s flugelhorn as it shifts from contemplation to warm optimism over balmy woodwind, then Sam Miles’ sultry tenor. Shared among seven composers, it’s a mixed bag made worth it by Matthew Herd’s ‘The Complete Short Stories’. Maybe its stated homage to Raymond Carver sparks the imagination best. But the soloists also inhabit the emotional world of Carver’s bruised loners. Kieran McLeod’s trombone sinks from regret into sonorous depths; Matthew Herd’s soprano sax then climbs out of still deeper melancholy, to redemptive brass fanfares. It’s a romantic blues of scale yet intimate effect, which justifies this Orchestra by itself.