The Brooklyn-based bass player Timothy Norton has been a feature of the New York jazz scene for the past decade: firm fingers and a rounded tone have won him credits ranging from Jason Palmer to Jeff Watts, and he's a faculty member of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

This album, his debut recording as a leader, was inspired by Plato's Phaedrus. And, like that classic text, Norton structures the album as a series of intimate conversations. Norton's bass counterpoint features strongly, but unison bass/piano riffs are in the mix and the album ends with a samba strut. The set starts gently with ‘Couple of Plebs': built on a recurring bass line, it features probing Randy Ingram piano and a whimsical solo from Jerome Sabbagh's airy tenor sax. The tricky lines and sharp stabs of 'Saba Saba Bachu Bachu’ deliver brash Josh Evans trumpet, ‘It's Five O'Clock Somewhere’ is downbeat and ‘Ergo the Boogeyman’ is inflected with soul. ‘Rafe's Windmill’ is the ballad, named after an unseen character from the show Seinfeld, and featuring an album highlight of perfectly-placed tenor sax. Tight playing and a light-touch score make for a solid contemporary-mainstream release that is at least worth a spin.