Tom Harrell has long sustained an impeccable record as one of the most thoughtful and articulate trumpet players on the contemporary scene. On this, his 10th album for the American HighNote label, the focus is on his trumpet-playing in a horn plus rhythm setting. While more recent albums, such as Colors of a Dream and First Impressions, presented augmented ensembles, Harrell has not entirely moved away from those concepts with unison double-tracking of his horn on ‘Apple House’ and ‘Different Clouds’, while ‘Happy Ring’ double-tracks piano. ‘Moving Picture’ is multi-tracked, presenting five trumpet parts and a trumpet choir in the coda. Playing a mix of his older compositions together with five new pieces with tightly arranged ensemble passages for piano and trumpet he makes the unusual but pleasing decision to write a number of bass and trumpet unions that lend variety to the overall ensemble textures in addition to the double and multi-tracking effects. One of his strong suits is the ability to come up with engaging melodies – not as common in jazz as you may think – which lend a copacetic jumping-off point for his solos. The quartet setting is temporarily laid aside for one tune on the through-composed ‘Vibrer’, an extended duet with piano.