The Canadian group Art of Breath is led by John MacMurchy, who plays tenor, clarinet and harmonica along with his own charts with Bruce Cassidy/tp-fh-evi, Mark Kieswetter/p-k, Ross MacIntyre/b, Dan Inonescu/g Daniel Barnes/dr and Alan Hetherington/perc. There are some guest strings that accompany vocalist Whitney Ross-Barris on the soft and melancholy “Now You’ve Gone Away” and Yvete Tollar brings her vocals with Jocelyn Barth and Donna O’Connor for the earnest “Dandelion Wine.”
For the instrumentals. MacMurchy has a clear tone with the upbeat team on “Expat Café” while the team has fun on the Latin “Phalanx” and snapping reggae during “Cosmos Circus” as Cassidy’s evi has some joyful moments. Cassidy’s horn gets gospel rich on “Working Title Blues” and the leader’s clarinet intrigues on the graceful “Ravenswood.” Varied, and very nice!