The New York-based, Canadian saxophonist-composer Quinsin Nachoff’s second album for his quartet Flux has its roots in a progressive jazz tradition but with conceptual and structural elements drawn from a broad range of contemporary ‘art’ and electronic-related music. Flux, a quartet of New York leftfield A-listers, formed by Nachoff in 2012, handle this with improvisational verve on this set of extended pieces. The inimitable David Binney on alto sax veers from inventively serpentine post-bop to dreamy impressionism, and combines well with the leader’s more traditional sax allegiances. Matt Mitchell, who has worked with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, among others, is at times both enigmatic and minimal on piano and a 1924 Kimball organ, but at others can sound tuned in to 20th-century French composers as on ‘Bounce’. An array of vintage modular synths (hired by Nachoff while artist-in-residence at Canada’s National Music Centre) has an understated presence on ‘Splatter’, while the Berne-like ‘March Macabre’ is driven by the simmering tension of Kenny Wollesen’s ominous military drum tattoo. Path of Totality is a slow burner, but for those with the patience it’s a very rewarding listen.