Seriously, when you've been involved in making and teaching music for as long as Simon Purcell, can you really call a new release your ‘debut’? Purcell originally came to the fore during the British jazz renaissance of the 1980s, performing in Jazz Train with Martin Speake; since then, he's largely poured his energies into education, currently occupying the post of Head of Jazz at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music in London. And, yes, despite all those years in the business, Red Circle is Purcell's debut as leader. He's assembled a fine quintet, with trumpeter Chris Batchelor and saxophonist Julian Siegel combining magnificently to create the complex squall of ‘Dark Night’, one of the standout cuts here. ‘Spirit Level’ gets proceedings off to a fine swinging start, ‘Minos’ is a lithe piece of smart bop, and ‘Ithaca’ is a sumptuous low-key ballad that refuses to go anywhere fast – and which returns at the end of the disc in a second version featuring lyrics and vocals from the wonderful Liane Carroll.