Tenor saxist Lucas Pino hails from the Brubeck Institute, The New School and received his Masters Degree from Julliard, so he knows his way around a tune. Here, he puts together a nine pieced band for eleven cleverly arranged tunes that mix Mingusy grooves and harmonies and swings like a bopper in the process.
Pino himself has an old soul of a sound on his horn, warm and rich as on “Orange” and with luster along with Colin Stranahan’s ride cymbal and Desmond White’s bowing bass on “Where You Need To Be.” Among other members in the band, Nick Finzer brings his trombone for a nice dash during the rapid lines of “The Fox,” Alex LoRe’s cool toned alto is hip and hep during “On The Road” and Mat Jodrell works his horn around the richly framed reeds on “A Morning Walk.” The mix of horns create some wonderful and effective harmonies throughout the session, creating fluffy clouds that Stranahan blows apart with a drum solo on “Homag A’Mitch” and a glorious invocation on “Intro to Bankenstein” , while Sarnecki tastefully solos over the cooing horns on “Three Old Men from the Land of Aran.” Clever and richly crafted.
Origin Records