Don Braden came to the fore along with various ‘young lions’ in the 1980s and, while not one of the biggest names, he's endured to become a master of the post-bop mainstream with an ear to unusual repertoire. His most recent release before this was called Earth, Wind And Wonder (2018) with convincing straightahead renditions of hit-parade material. In similar vein, he now takes charge of several Hancock originals from different periods with a virtuoso quartet, co-led by Dutch bassist Teepe with whom he first collaborated in the 1990s.

He treats two early items to stimulating variation, ‘Watermelon Man’ being changed from 8/8 to 6/8 with an interesting reharmonisation of bars 9-12; whereas ‘Driftin’’ (the original version of which had Herbie sounding like Horace Parlan) is also in 6/8, with both an exciting solo and a gospellish intro from pianist Van Bavel.

Other tracks from this live date cover hits such as ‘Maiden Voyage’ or ‘Butterfly’, the latter sounding quite different with acoustic keyboard and Braden himself on flute, and ‘Speak Like A Child’ and the standard ‘Yesterdays’ get into a groove that justifies their lengthy closing saxophone rideouts.