If his last HighNote CD, Light On, suggested that Harrell’s quintet was on a roll, this confirms it. In Wayne Escoffery (tenor/soprano), Danny Grissett (piano/Fender Rhodes), Ugonna Okegwo (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums) he has one of his best bands ever.

There’s an arresting contrast between his poised trumpet and flugelhorn and Escoffery’s blusteringly inventive drive, while the rhythm section is superbly effective. And the whole group has an uncommon, edgy presence. But it’s undoubtedly shaped by Harrell, who wrote all the material, deftly creating spacious compositions out of the simplest of motifs and generating changes that bring out the best in his colleagues. He’s probably now in the form of his life – lyrical, assured, exciting and delivering solo after solo of the highest quality. Tellingly, neither Escoffery nor Grissett fails to step up to the mark. www.jazzdepot.com