The title apparently quotes Erik Satie who once said he took to his room and "small things evolved slowly". It’s a nod to the few years over which saxophonist Sam Norris developed the music for this debut album as well as possibly hinting at the simple clarity of chamber jazz numbers like ‘The Bright Winding Path’ and ‘Chorale’. But those shorter, tightly-scored tunes are framed by more elaborate longer pieces with plenty of freer playing and notable solos from young pianist Jay Verma as well as Norris himself. 'Azazello’ – named for a ‘killer demon’ in Bulgakov’s surreal The Master and Margarita – features a laconic piano and sax duet that devolves to a stabbing joust driven on by Will Sach’s urgent bass and energetic drumming from Tomorrow’s Warriors graduate Harry Ling.

Norris, Verma and Ling are all members of the coolly contemporary Planck Walker quintet but the consistency of Norris’ compositions, often hinting at the influence of John Coltrane, gives this album its own distinctive voice. The saxophone, while obviously important, by no means dominates – indeed, ‘The Fulcrum’ takes Norris’ opening theme into an extended piano trio with disjointed chords and bombastic drumming, the sax only returning distantly at the very end. The album ends with the multi-layered bustle of ‘Lamentation’, its more plaintive theme announcing a shapely bass solo that settles into a spiritual jazz groove eventually becoming a tidy drum solo before thematic variations bring matters to a close. This is studied contemporary jazz, thoughtfully composed and arranged, hopefully hinting at bigger things coming more quickly in the future.