Musically educated in Trondheim and Copenhagen, Daniel Herskedal is taking the tuba in directions and to places undreamt of by older masters of the instrument. The Norwegian mould-breaker benefited from playing in Django Bates' wonderful stoRMChaser orchestra before coming to the fore with the release of the duo album Neck of the Woods with Marius Neset. The Roc has many of the virtues of Herskedal's first disc for Edition, 2015's atmospheric Slow Eastbound Train, not least thematic and sonic preoccupations with location and travel. The album's title namechecks the pan-Asian mythological bird of prey while individual track titles refer to Middle Eastern scale names and rhythms, as well as Arabic sayings (in this regard, however long and illustrious his career proves, it's going to be hard for Herskedal to better ‘There Are Three Things You Cannot Hide; Love, Smoke and a Man Riding on a Camel’). The tubaist – whose playing also defies the conventional wisdom about the potential of the tuba as an instrument for improvisers – is joined by pianist Eyolf Dale and percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken, who with string players Bergmund Waal Skaslien and Svante Henryson make this one of the most interesting and musically diverse small ensembles at work today.