Recorded in Helsinki, just two months before Bang’s untimely death, this album only features one composition by the violinist, either due to lack of time for preparing new material or as a conscious decision to interpret some old favourites. Bang was still battling strongly against cancer, his playing abilities audibly undiminished, even if his stamina was reduced. The unusual front line of violin and trombone creates a particular tone, amplified by the unique tunes of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. The latter’s ‘Guinea’, from 1979, sounds equally as though Vietnam could have provided its tonal home. There are three minutes of completely solo Bang acrobatics, then the quintet enters, suggesting the swing of a big band, in their imaginations.

Bang’s own 1997 ‘Daydreams’ opens with sensitive piano, the violinist joining until around six minutes in, when Greene enters completely solo. Bang returns on his own, almost until the conclusion, when the other pair re-emerge. It’s bittersweetly impressionistic, providing an open oasis at the album’s centre. Then, Ornette’s ‘Law Years’ holds hands with the earlier Cherry ditty, echoing via a relentlessly spiky motif. The closing ‘All Blues’ and ‘St. Thomas’ seem to provide a deliberately upbeat, optimistic closing pair, a couple of Miles’ and Sonny’s most popular pieces making a positive, jaunty conclusion. Perhaps predictable, but somehow fitting, under the trying circumstances.