The Mack Avenue label is old school in a good way. For a start it embraces the players who, for want of a better word, are straightahead. Then it believes in that old concept of the roster band. I thought we had said goodbye to all that back in the 1980s, and so, clearly, did Burton: “This really is like something from a past era, and I was a little surprised and pleased that the label decided to put it on tour,” he comments in the liner notes. The Mack Avenue Superband, which is now going to be on the road, has played at the last four of the Motor City’s Labour Day gatherings and the festival atmosphere is sunny and bright. With the exception of Allen, all the musicians contribute tunes, with Whalum’s tribute to Hank Crawford, ‘Preach Hank!’ and Sands’ ‘Up!’ being the exclamatory bookends. Burton’s contribution is a ballad featuring Fuller on soprano, while Hendrix’s ‘Sudden Impact’ lives up to its title with hard-bop exuberance. Ultimately the quality of the players and the discipline within the arrangements saves this from becoming just a jam session, though it remains a pleasant reminder of a good gig rather than a particularly notable recording in its own right.