An imaginative, dynamic conversational vibe and desire to engage with the listener have an equal significance for the New York-based saxophonist-composer Adam Larson's trio's impressive eighth release as leader. Larson has focussed in recent years on nurturing his trio and on the final instalment, a chapter of his career that started in Chicago and ends up here in New York, originals persuasively merge post-bop with elements of contemporary beat culture and alt-rock.

The harmonic freedom said to advantage the sax trio jazz can sometimes do the opposite and lead to vaguely meandering, heavy-going ensemble play. Thankfully that's not the case at all here. Larson's trio manage to be elusive, accessible and challenging at the same time. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra drummer Obed Calvaire is an outstanding presence in particular: Larson's ‘Perspective’ evokes a time when jazz could be a tuneful bustling urban soundtrack to a US sitcom, and ‘Soar’ is notable for Calvaire's intriguing reinvention of breakbeats in a jazz format alongside Matt Clohesy's succinct contrast of sustained and biting rhythms on electric bass. If you're going to listen to just a single sax-bass-drums trio recording this year – perhaps because one is more than enough – then make it this one.