Jack Walrath’s assured attack, brassy sound and melodically angular lines were honed by five years with the late Charles Mingus – to see just how good the trumpeter is, check out the 1974 Atlantic albums Changes 1&2. This album finds him in fine form playing with Boris Kozlov, long-time bassist with the Mingus Big Band, and fellow Mingus heritage alumni Abraham Burton on tenor sax and drummer Donald Edwards. The playing is great, the compositions strong and the moods full-on. Like Mingus, Walrath draws on non-jazz traditions – his years in latin bands have left their mark, Greek music is in the mix and the blues is never far away – and his compositions shift tempo and tone. And like Mingus, he likes his tenor saxophonists tough and rhythm sections that swing. Abraham Burton boots with the best of them, Edwards and Kozlov are tight and the only bad thing about this CD is the punning title – most of the 10 originals were written after a recent trip to Greece; the effects of the austerity measures don’t get a mention. The set is bookended by the blues – the muscular ‘Norris Junction’ is a wailing end-piece – two pieces draw atmospherically on the Greek underground culture ‘Rembetika’ and ‘Grace’ is a lilting and lovely ballad.