Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon is something of a contemporary all-rounder with fast fingers, a wide spectrum of sound and all the right influences. For the past 10 years or so, he's periodically interrupted a busy European schedule to play New York, where he knuckles down to downtown grit. This two-CD release, recorded on two different European tours, couples a set by an ‘American band’ of 2008 with a set by a ‘European band’ from 2012. Both CDs live up to the album's title – the lead track by the American's lasts over half an hour – and shift tempo and mood. The American rhythm section, with bassist John Hebert and Gerald Cleaver on drums, plays tight contemporary swing while the Europeans are looser and shade into the avant garde. Salamon, fluent, warm toned and harmonically dense with the Americans, is scratchy and distorted with the Europeans. But the real contrast is in the differing character of the two equally intense lead voices. New Yorker Donny McCaslin teems with harmonic invention and sits precisely on the pulse. Violinist Dominique Pifarély is flamboyant, at times furious and edges into Billy Bang territory. Salomon sits well with both, but is more competent foil than leader of the pack.