Somehow this fine album has previously eluded me, despite possessing much Surman from before and since. Though there is no overlap of material with the contemporaneous and recently rediscovered John Warren recording Traveller’s Tales (reviewed in Jazzwise 218), it was clearly a halcyon period for both the Brass Project concept and Warren’s and Surman’s writing. There are brief but telling solos from Lowther, Waterman, Griffiths and Edwards, but of course the majority of the feature space is devoted to Surman on each of his four listed reeds (while his atmospheric piano in the first part of ‘Silent Lake’ is highly effective in setting a mood). Yet, far from coming across as ‘horn with backing band’, the overall result is of an almost Ellingtonian ensemble which just happens to contain rather fine individual contributions. And the thematic material, some of it with Surman’s typical West Country titles such as ‘Mellstock Quire’ and ‘Tantrum Clangley’, is sufficient to stimulate the imagination of soloist and listener alike.