The 71-year-old arranger-pianist Pierson spends the majority of his time in Japan these days, hence this music's appearance on a Japanese label and the inclusion of at least two players from there in his Brooklyn-recorded big-band. But there are also a couple of American-based French musicians, including the remarkable trombonist Khoury, alongside stalwart US pros such as Marini, akLaff and Soloff, who died less than two months after these sessions. The album title, though, isn't directly related to Soloff, but to Pierson's reworking of material composed over 40 years, and indeed the solos here are sometimes less impressive than Pierson's 12 originals, three of them touching the 15-minute mark. The publicity draws attention to a putative Gil Evans influence, but more evident are some ideas redolent of George Russell and perhaps even the Innovations period of Stan Kenton (for whom Pierson apparently deputised in his later years). The ensemble's performance of some pretty challenging writing, with mind-bending rhythms and ball-busting brass figures, is compelling and thought-provoking.