Melling's work with Peter King, Alan Skidmore and Clark Tracey has led to some people taking his excellent pianism for granted. And, despite his written contributions to things like the Melling/Tracey Septet album Special One, not enough attention has been paid to his aptitude for composing. Surprisingly, there's a pleasantly old-fashioned air about many of the 13 shortish pieces here (average length just over three and a half minutes). Not overstaying their welcome is just one of the virtues on display and, on a technical level, many of the originals are performed with single-note bass-lines while the harmonic interest is combined with the melody in the right hand. This reminiscence of the 1940s and early-50s is no disadvantage, but it's only in a few items such as the more Tyner-influenced ‘Decamundo’ that Melling sounds like the pianist who plays so well in the abovementioned groups. Make no mistake, though, there's a lot of energy and invention on display here, as you'd expect.