Electric guitarist Chris Jentsch leads a left of center band of Michel Gentile/fl, Michael McGinnis/cl, Jason Rigby/sa, David Smith/tp-fh, Brian Drye/tb, Jacob Sacks/p, Jim Whitney/b and Eric Halvorson/dr through a series of themes associated with various parts of this country’s past. Conducted by JC Sanford, this band is recorded in concert at the ShapShifter Lab in Brooklyn, NY back in 2016. The topics, such as McCarthyism (“Dominos”), Lincoln’s assassination (“Meeting at Surratt’s”) and the creation of the Statue of Liberty (“Tempest-Tost”) have lyrical themes, usually with floating flutes that gently coalesce to a climax, with Sack’s piano, Rigby’s tenor and Jentsch’s guitar giving some solo space, respectively. Halverson delivers a militaristic beat to “Meeting…” and gently coaxes the climax of “Suburban Diasporia.” The intuitive horns wax and wane, ebb and flow throughout, mostly on “1491” and “Manifest Destiny” sort of like the wandering spirit of the explorers and pioneers. Thoughtful jazz chamber moods.