This is the seventh album on ACT from the former Marciac child prodigy Emile Parisien. His first significant statement for the label was 2017’s Sfumato Live in Marciac (ACT 6021) and although subsequent albums were very good, there was always a feeling that if he created a more effective and convincing context for his playing he would blossom.

And blossom he does on Louise. The context, with three Americans – Coker, Martin and Waits – and three Frenchmen, have come up with an album that numbers among the very best from the ACT label. Trumpet player Theo Coker (grandson of jazz legend Doc Cheatham) would be hard pressed to produce an album where his playing exceeds his work here – concise, lyrical, he is the perfect foil for Parisien’s intricate soprano; Codjila and Negro play with great imagination and discretion while Nasheet Waits on drums keeps this fascinating brew bubbling nicely – but discreetly.

Essentially a tour de force of jazz past – the Second Line N’awlins rhythms on ‘Jungle Jig’, the bebop lines of ‘Jojo’, and the jazz-rock implications of ‘Memento Part 1’ and the Silent Way-ish ‘Prayer for Peace’ – to the contemporary present, every track insists there’s more to this album than initially meets the ear.