Nigel Hitchcock has been a sought-after saxophonist within the pop-rock stratosphere since the 1990s, but has also held his own on high pedigree straightahead and retro fusion dates. Hitchgnosis is only his third release as leader although no recording date is stated and the contribution of drummer Chris Dagley, who passed away suddenly in 2010, dates the recording. Not as radio-friendly as smooth R&B-licks unlimited 2013 release Smoothhitch, this is essentially an album in the unjustly maligned sax-and-strings sub-genre. Kazakh violinist Marat Bisengaliev’s full-blown string arrangements don’t have the pretence of originality. They can temporarily evoke the melancholic strain of sax with strings classics such as Art Pepper’s Winter Moon or Phil Woods’ The Thrill is Gone, but then switch over to orchestrations derived from classical and folk-dance sources including Scottish themes that reference Hitchcock’s former residence in the Isle of Skye. It also dips into the soundworld of syrupy power pop ballads and quasi-John Williams melodramatic film score territory that Hitchcock will know only too well from his commercial session work. The leader is certainly one of the more listenable funkily R&B-jazz sax models around, and there’s a sense of a deeper emotional attachment to melody in his playing in among the routine licks. It might be a record closer to MOR background music at times, but there’s enough taste and commitment to recommend it.