Spread across two CDs this is the bulk of an evening gig in London by the Toussaint Sextet last December. The advantage of the lengthier than usual album format is that we hear the pieces unfold exactly as they do when the band plays live, and with less temporal constraint than on Jean's previous album, Brother Raymond. A case in point is Daniel Casimir's lovely composition ‘The Loss of Sleep’ (a reaction to a new baby in the house), in which the long and relaxed solos from Byron Wallen, Dennis Rollins and Andrew McCormack develop beautifully. We hear the same wistfulness from McCormack towards the end of the double-album set before it morphs into a powerful version of Bobby Timmons’ ‘Moanin’’ showing the band's hard bop prowess. The crowd's reaction to Wallen's opening flourish is tremendous. We get Toussaint's stage intro to his Obama tribute ‘Amabo’ and a really thorough exploration of the piece, which appeared on the last record. Here we have a band comfortable in its material and developing it well. There's uptempo finesse at the start of Toussaint's piece ’Doc’, where Shaney Forbes demonstrates why he's so much in demand, and the drum solo comes first rather than as the conventional afterthought. Then the piece settles into a walking tempo, but as always with this band, it can move between tempi and moods flawlessly and take its audience along for the ride. So, all in all, a really different follow-up to Brother Raymond, and if you close your eyes, you're right there in the Jazz Cafe for two exhilarating sets with the band.