Major props to Dave Stapleton and his team for putting together such a wide-ranging, diverse catalogue of albums at Edition, a label with Europe at its heart but is international in its outlook.

One artist exemplifying this is rising star Ben Wendel, Canadian-born, raised in Los Angeles and currently a Brooklyn resident. His 2020 debut on Edition, High Heart, picked up great reviews, so heightening interest for his next release. Well, it’s here, a somewhat over-thought, lumpy affair that really doesn’t hang together well.

Rhythmically, Wendel does away with traditional rhythm instruments, replacing them with little choirs of multi-tracked instruments playing sustained notes or doing rhythmic oompah variations to generate a bit of momentum.

The soloists – Wendel himself, Blanchard, Frisell and Pinderhughes – have dropped their solos into arrangements more convoluted than Hampton Court Maze.

You can only admire vocalist José James as he manfully negotiates the musical obstacle course that is ‘Tenderly’.