As they proved on previous Intakt releases that featured pianists Geri Allen and Vijay Iyer, respectively, the Lake-Workman-Cyrille ensemble works very effectively with guests, but this session highlights the strength of the group sans keyboard. To chord or not to chord is by no means the issue in any case, for what jumps out from the first bar is the largeness of each person's sound, from that peculiarly stinging, high but hefty timbre of Lake's, to Workman's stirringly deep resonance, the tone like a bundle of felt, and Cyrille's fluid and wily orchestrations that girdle the aforesaid. So imposing are their personalities that these veterans do not have to play for the sake of proving their worth and the main achievement of this music is its concentration amid the leisurely, almost incidental nature of the creative momentum, which has a sense of both great intellect and folkish immediacy. That means lots of concise, curt motifs from Lake, and at times beautifully curled melodies from Workman, set to a loose rhythmic carriage from Cyrille that can shift from swing to march in a few beats. The three voices move with stealth through the etude-like material, but they also know how to throw a curveball, none more so than the beguiling Theremin sound effect near the end of the set that is not so much a wash of cymbals as an electric drizzle in percussion.