The three generations of pianists featured on this album are a useful symbol of the longevity of leadersaxophonist’s Jean Toussaint’s career, not to mention the great influence he has exerted as an educator since arriving in Britain in the early 1980s. Forever vocal about his own priceless apprenticeship as a Jazz Messenger, Toussaint assumes the senior Blakey-esque mantle well, and the prevalence of smartly constructed pieces for a well-drilled ensemble which celebrates the classic threepronged reed and brass frontline is very appealing. Toussaint draws on blues and African-Caribbean vocabularies to inject vigour into the tunes, as can be heard on the ricochet percussion on the opener ‘Amabo’, and infuses further modernity into tradition by way of some inventive changes and multiple breakdowns. As much as the uptempo pieces, with their bustling dance implications, are impressive, the more reflective ballads, of which ‘Interlude For Idris’ is the pick, also show how well Toussaint creates strong moods in a more stealthy fashion. Writing aside, the quality of the improvising is consistently high, with the horns and rhythm section, particularly Rebello, on cracking form. Toussaint, whose solos are very astutely paced, has never made a secret of his West Indian roots and his debt to Blakey. This is the moment those two strands of his identity entwine to create something quite special.