Not only does Wayne Tucker play a variety of instruments on this album but he creates as many different moods with them. He sings, plays trumpet, flugelhorn, piano and keyboards for his compositions with a core team of Jason Marshall/bs-bcl, Tom Larsen/g-voc, Sullivan Fortner/p-key, Todd Caldwell/org, Yasushi Nakamura/ab, Spencer Murphy/eb and Jonathan Pinson/dr and a collection of guests.
Along with bohemian voiced Cyrille Aimee, the band swings deftly on a peppy “Little Buddy,” while with Larsen’s Delta guitar and Reachingnova, the team delivers a rural read of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman.” A pail of string quartets divide up duty to supply drapery for Tucker’s warm horn on “Retrograde” and a solemn yet yearning take of Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Let Me Go.” The team gets street fest fun with Itai Kriss’ flute on “Humans Groove harder Than Robots” while getting dramatic for the leader’s pleading horn on “Tears.” Lots of earth tones set to music.