Versatile British keyboardist and composer Benjamin Croft likes big-concept ventures, and his 2019 recording 10 Reasons To… was a painstakingly-executed homage to personal heroes ranging from Weather Report to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop via Mahler, Christopher Lee, and guitarist Allan Holdsworth – but a devotion to prog rock and vintage synths seemed highest on his agenda then, as they do on the follow-up, Far And Distant Things.

The playing is anchored by Croft's regular London jazz partners (notably trumpeter Andy Davies and bassists Henry Thomas and Flo Moore), augmented by glitzy international guests including Randy Brecker, and former Chick Corea Elektric Band guitarist Frank Gambale. After a cinematic opening trumpet fanfare, the title track balances a graceful guitar-sustain theme over clanging keys vamp and taut backbeat against periodic accelerations of the groove, ‘Brock’ displays a superb Gareth Lockrane fast flute break, and ‘Spatial Awareness Disease’ a mix of ringing classical-brass purity in its theme statement and warm-toned jazz trumpet in its development. Dreamy guitar swirls enveloped by choral synth chords are punctured by staccato bass motifs (‘The War Against Loudness’), and the delicate trumpet ballad ‘Thank You, That's What I Wanted to Know’ highlights what Croft can subtly do when he eases back on the gas to let a tune patiently breathe. Just how much prog rock, super-snappy unison hooks and drum-rudiments tightness you can handle as a jazz or improv fan might affect your disposition toward this fast moving, highly virtuosic set, but plenty of prog-rock and jazz fusion buffs will definitely cheer it on.