Trumpeter Vitaly Golovnev recently appeared on St Petersburg-born firebrand alto saxophonist Zhenya Strigalev's quirkily impressive debut released a few months back. While Strigalev has been based in London since 2007, his friend and musical frontline partner took off for New York in 2003. Golovnev was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk trumpet competition in 2007 and has been in demand as a sideman, with the Mingus Big Band among his gigs. This is Golovnev's second album, following on from 2009's To Whom it May Concern, his compositions and arrangements drawing from both the mazey themes of Miles’ freebop era and from more upbeat hard bop, while a touch of Mingus flavours the ballads. As with Strigalev, there is a fiery, acidic urgency to Golovnev's playing and their frequent dialogue demonstrates an easy chemistry reminiscent of the ebb and flow of the piano-less earliest groups of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. Strigalev lets rip from the word go, unshackled from any chordal instrument though confining his experiments within the boundaries of modernism. Fellow Russian Golovnev's solos have more allegiance to hard bop in its later progressive developments, but are bristling with personal inflections rather than tried-and-tested phraseology. It's a winning combination and they are excellently served by the crisply swinging New York rhythm of Mingus-influenced bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Pete Zimmer.