Ralph Alessi, the New York trumpeter whose improvisations glimmer with understated surprises, has made two earlier ECM recordings (2013’s Baida and 2016’s Quiver) with classy quartets, but Imaginary Friends is his first for the label with the five-piece of old friends that used to travel in the noughties under the name of This Against That. His horn partner here is saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, a friend since student days, and the repertoire comprises nine Alessi originals – an indicator of how prolific a composer he has become in mid-life, after years as a first-call sideman. Alessi sees the ECM traditions of meditative patience and sonic detail as presenting new challenges to this long-bonded group’s modus operandi, and that much is evident in the attentive empathy of the improvising, and the tantalising pacing of the compositions. On ‘Iram Issela’, Alessi’s lovely sound gently unfolds a long, delicately skipping intro of quick runs and gleaming falsetto notes over the restrained piano chording of Andy Milne (an Alessi associate from their time together in Steve Coleman’s groups), and Coltrane slowly exhales a tenor solo of swelling heat as Mark Ferber’s drumming builds to a long-postponed ensemble theme. The slow-rocking, distantly Kenny Wheeler-ish ‘Oxide’ and the stealthily bass-introduced, free-floating title-track confirm how closely bonded Alessi and Coltrane are when soloing together, while ‘Fun Room’ shows just how deviously and infectiously swinging this band can be. Imaginary Friends raises an already high bar for Ralph Alessi on ECM.