Veteran American alto saxophonist Lake has had a consistently strong run of small group sessions over the past few years (mostly with Geri Allen), and this latest ensemble, comprising younger European players, makes the point that there is much to be gained from transatlantic alliances. This kind of piano-less, very limpid setting suits players with big sounds and the combination of the leader's rugged, pungent reed and Wogram's billowing brass is a hearty one, giving the band a sharp top and heavy bottom end that loosely recalls the dynamic range set by Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley in some of James Brown's classic cuts. Funk, slanted towards both blues and latin grooves, has long been a key element of Lake's vocabulary and its materialisation in the feisty, off-kilter beat of ‘Sketch 4 Four’ proves one of the highlights of the set, above all because the rhythmic character of the music is so jumpy and jarring but irresistibly danceable, and Lake's ability to pepper a solo with the ripest of melodic phrases remains undimmed. Elsewhere the surprises keep coming: the mix of tripping, tumbling cowbell patterns and breezy counterpoint of ‘Oddy-C’; the brilliant collision of ‘jungle’ rhythms and Cherry-like choruses of the supremely moody ‘Rollin’ Vamp'; and the anguished pathos of Ellington/Strayhorn's ‘Johnny Come Lately’. Every piece grabs the attention as much for the richness of the sound palette as the malleability of the form, and if Lake may be perceived as an avant-garde artist, then he is a great example of what that term really means, namely an openness to the unheard and incubation of the heard, be it a folksy soul or a hard blues.