Alto saxophonist Darius Jones has been building an impressive body of work since the early 2000s, and this new release is arguably a crowning glory.

There is a kind of stark, almost spiteful beauty in Jones' compositions, a vivid rendering of the cruelties and ironies of modern times, as well as related frailties and melancholy, which reflects Jones’ ability to convey graphic image and mood in sound.

His broad, bulbous tone, occasionally close to a non-western double reed instrument, is striking, yet the chemistry created with drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Chris Lightcap makes the session memorable, especially when they pare the music down to short, stinging riffs in which the steady pull of the horn’s weighty whole notes contrasts potently with clicking rimshots and open string scurries.

Together the players build on the longstanding entwined roots of avant-garde and black folk music, extending Julius Hemphill’s concept of ‘The Hard Blues’ into a harder blues for a hardened world.