Scott Willcox is a composer and arranger and this is the fourth release by his occasional big band, now effectively a dectet, which exists to exemplify the premise espoused by trumpeter (and now trombonist) Gabriel Garrick: “If you want your music played, form your own band.”As can be seen, Willcox has no difficulty in recruiting high-calibre players albeit that Garrick again has suggested this is often difficult music to play. So what is on offer, I hear you ask? The opening track, ‘Bouncing Back’, is in 5/4 and may seem to chime with Garrick’s view, in that it seems never to quite get going. Its successor, ‘African Dance’, employs unusual voicings over a repeated stop-start motif, the excellent Eagles busy in solo, Garrick and Gibson emerging briefly from the mayhem below. ‘The Water Is Wide’ is calmer, and features the first of three impeccable vocals by Mancio with mellow trumpet from Gibson. On his website, Willcox speaks of setting psalms to music and his arrangement here seems distinctly ecclesiastical, whereas its follow-on, ‘All Change!’, is quite different and: “highlights improvising skills with extended solos on one chord”, according to Willcox. Oh well. Biscoe is snake-like alongside Eagles, bass and drums have their moments, the writing quite contained, the influence of George Russell and even Gil Evans apparent. The final track, ‘Mixed Feelings’, features “general mayhem” and that says it all. Something of an acquired taste, Willcox’s music is light years away from that of the conventional big band, though ‘Can’t Complain’ with its trombone choir gets near. In no way startling or deliberately eccentric but often subdued, not to say dismal, it might be best described as thoughtful and highly personal. Mancio just may be its best thing.