The wide range of instrumental timbres listed above seems to promise a finely-nuanced tonal palette rather than orchestral fireworks or symphonic melodrama. That’s pretty much what you get from the 13-piece Maluba Orchestra, led by a trio of high-profile Danish musicians. No better example is 2018 Danish Music award-winning composer/saxophonist Fredrik Lundin’s luxuriously melancholic post-Gil Evans-like ‘Night Travel’. Elsewhere they showcase a more extensive range of influences; check out the saxophonist’s free jazz-ish ‘Circling Back’ or the low-slung funk of ECM label luminary Marilyn Mazur’s appropriately-titled ‘Vibe’. Guitarist Kasper Bai acknowledges 1970s orchestral film noir on his rock-riffing ‘Marcology Part I-III’, a homage to Marc Ducret, with its exhilaratingly percussive backdrop by the charismatic Mazur. The West-African folk music-informed ‘Hattifnat’ is more feel-good. Unlike so many attempts at contemporary genre-bridging, Maluba Orchestra’s versatility enhances rather than inhibits cohesion, and, hence, meaning. Later, Mazur’s enigmatic ‘Maluba Birds’ and the spiritual hum of ‘Windy Wish’ top off a colourfully orchestrated, vibrant debut recording.