Trombonist John Fedchock delivers a straight and no chaser hard bop album reminiscent of vintage Blue Note sessions with a muscular team of Scott Wendholt/tp-fh, Walk Weiskopf/ts, Allen Farnham/p, David Finck/b and Eric Halvorson/dr. All of the tunes sound like the guys drank deep from the Jazz Messenger well as Weiskopf’s big sound swaggers over the shuffling “ Alpha Dog” and the horns create rich harmonies with Fedcchock leaping out in front on his warm “RSVP”. The leader has a gorgeous tone on the melancholy “Into The Shadows” and Wendholt is a delight as he skips along on “I Should Care”. Most intriguing is a dark and modal read of “Nature Boy” with Weiskopf in a Coltrane mood and Farnham giving a full fisted support and solo, while adding silver tones to the sleek “On The Edge”. A toe tapping triumph.