Few pianists have impressed me more over the past decade than thirtysomething Caracas, Venezuela-born Luis Perdomo. You’ve got to be special to hold down a gig of some ten years now with Ravi Coltrane and 13 or so with Miguel Zenón. Most recently, he’s recorded three albums for Criss Cross. But now comes Universal Mind, his most adventurous achievement yet. Teamed with one of his all-time heroes, veteran drummer/composer/pianist/leader Jack DeJohnette and long-time Coltrane colleague, the exceptional bassist Drew Gress, Perdomo is obviously inspired to go way beyond his comfort zone. DeJohnette’s drums are everywhere on these tracks, always in the very best of taste, almost inhumanly polyrhythmic at times, intuitively picking up from wherever Perdomo takes him and thus giving Luis the encouragement and freedom to reach new improvisational heights. Kicking off with Joe Henderson’s classic ‘Tetragon’, which swings almost indecently, the rest of the material is mainly Perdomo’s plus one by his wife Miriam Sullivan, a rhythmically edgy tune by Jack named ‘Tin Can Alley’ and a two-(very different)-parter called ‘United Path’, with the first almost slinky in its possibly north African feel and the second, the nearest to free jazz on the record. Both parts sound totally improvised, possibly even made in one take and writer credits are split between the two. This is one of those CDs that sound great at first hearing, but even better after that! Highly recommended.