Resident Be-Bop Alien: Roberto Magris' latest

There's a whole lot to be said for consistency. Over the course of the last two decades (at least), piano man Roberto Magris has - across vastly changing line-ups, formats and styles - has presented a unified body of work that briliantly showcases the very vital links between conventional bebop and contemporary inventions. In other words, he's kept going forward, even when he reaches back.

this latest double-disc is no exception - brimming with a sense of adventure and delivered with uniform skill and passion amongst all the players.

Sam Reed
Kendall Moore
Dominique Sanders
Steve Lambert
Brian Steever
Pablo Sanhueza

Through his jovial andassertive yet inclusive leadership, the crew plays with clear relish in their jaunt across this supposedly "alien" landscape, gathering in the process a rich trove of bebop era classics.

As an ardent student of the idiom, Magris manages to not only inject new life into the established material, but even further he manages to make the genre itself breathe anew, as if drawing it out of some time capsule after generations of being lost to the listening public. 

Of course, Magris is never content to merely retread or rehash the works of other, so in addition to the Fats Navarro gem "Nostalgia" and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps"
there are whimsically titled Magris originals like "Blues Clues on The Lunar Sand" and "Cosmic Storyville"

Magris' pianism is no matter of whimsy however. As much as his playing hits new heights, he appropriately plumbs new depths, crossing bewtween lighter and darker motifs with signature dexterity. His take on "Giant Steps" is especially signal here - all that one can say is that you will be pleasantly surprised.

And that level of reward is typical for this entire double-disc - another home run for the Magris-Collins JMood camp. The audio notebook closing this disc promises more explorations and we can  hardly wait., .
Ready for Reed