Jeremy Pelt has got his groove – and direction – back. After two albums which my esteemed colleague Mike Hobart liked, but which this Pelt fan felt were far too retro in the electric Miles vein. His new group takes a bold step by featuring two drummers. Both veterans and playing with unselfish good taste, they make the opening Clifford Jordan album title track ‘Glass Bead Games’ a really exciting occasion. Drummond is on the right channel, Lewis on the left, one basically concentrating on the beat, the other embellishing it. The drummers have further robust excursions with Pelt's outstanding trumpet on his original ‘Ruminations on Eric Garner’, inspired by the recent senseless killing by the NYPD and ‘Harlem Thoroughfare’, which aptly conveys the city's energy. They also play an important role in the reworking of a tune Pelt first recorded in 2007 (‘Nephthys’). Having shown that he's now playing with more fire than for years, two tracks reflect what Jeremy Pelt arguably does better than anyone in jazz today – play ballads with heartbreaking pathos and soulful beauty. There's a forgotten Wayne Shorter tune from Miles' ‘The Sorcerer’, a Jimmy Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn gem called ‘I Only Miss Her When I Think of You’, which Jimmy Greene once used as his ballad feature on a Ralph Peterson date for Criss Cross they were both playing on. Interestingly, there's no flugelhorn on the date. But what emerges is that Jeremy Pelt reminds us all that he's one of the most exciting trumpet players on today's scene. He sounds aggressive, fearless and restless. Here's to the next one!