Time was when Wates issued new sextet albums at a steady rate, starting as far back as 1993. Latterly the well seemed to have run dry, but now comes this new release, badged as a tribute to the band's late tenor-saxophonist Steve Main, who died in 2021 aged just 48.

As ever, 10 of the 11 compositions on offer are by Wates, with a single exception by his brother Rupert. Cleverly pieced together and sturdily performed, they serve the soloists well, most tracks running at between six-and -eight-minutes' duration. Wates himself has always been a fluent player, somewhat in the Cannonball Adderley manner, literate yet intense, never short of ideas and with a sound of his own. This time round it's Andy Panayi returning on tenor, his variations often more eclectic, as evident on the opening ‘Coasting’ where he moves from lucidity to distortion and back again, before Greening invents some special moves of his own over the piece's broken rhythms.

If the mid-term Messengers template is uppermost, that's OK, for Wates can invent all sorts of pleasing variations within the format like the brilliantly song-like ‘Gin and Bitters’, where stalwart Shaw has an elegant, long-limbed solo marked by his lovely clean-cut tone before Greening romps ahead.

None of these tunes are duds, Wates always keen to provide both texture and structure. ‘Heatwave’ has both, label boss Creese underpinning a nicely voiced ensemble theme.

Call this hard bop but with a distinctly Wates-ian accent, Greening the standout soloist. Effusive in the best way, he's seldom phased by the thematic possibilities, with Shaw and Wates panting at his heels.

Good work all round – and a very fine and fitting way to remember a fallen comrade.