Sipiagin is a Criss Cross regular, often with Potter alongside, his many recordings a tribute to his mastery of the hard bop idiom. Russian-born, he first immersed himself in the New York scene, starring with the Mingus Big Band et al, before relocating recently to Northern Italy. Here he is, back in the Big Apple, lined up with a band of his peers. A hard bop homecoming, you could say.

His title piece on this album is named for his wife and might best be described as a kind of free-for-all, Sipiagin pushing his range to its limit, Potter vanishing into the harmonies while Blake breaks up any pretensions to the beat as Kikoski steadies the ship.

Don Friedman's ‘Summer's End’ is calmer and the better for it, Potter ruminative, the voicing languid and impressionistic. Kikoski again impressive. ‘Four By Five’ opens with an ensemble re-jigging of Tyner's theme, the jumbled effect like a bustling sidewalk crowd, the trumpeter re-visiting his Woody Shaw influence.

Potter's ‘Maritima’ has a likeable Brazilian feel, Sipiagin using flugelhorn for its softer resolution, Potter exploring without being over-effusive, Kikoski splashy.

‘Vesnianka’ is a Ukrainian folk song and harks back to the trumpeter's Yaroslavl origins. It's given a respectful modal reading here, Potter keening in Coltrane fashion; by including it, Sipiagin knows that he has almost certainly jinxed any chance of ever playing in Russia again – his flugelhorn solo a paean to these far-off connections.

Ornette's zig-zagging ‘Bird Food’ is heard in two takes – I liked the first one best - and as booklet writer Ted Panken says, ‘all members solo with panache and vigour’. Exactly. ‘Peggy's Blue Skylight’ allows Sipiagin and Kikoski to re-visit their Mingus connections and meander airily around the theme.