The all star team BAJC carries the hard bop torch like Rafer Johnson in the 1988 Olympics, mixing a strong harmonic and soloing front line of Wayne Escoffery/ts, Jeremy Pelt/tp and James Burton III/tb along with a sharp cornered rhythm team of Victor Gould/p, Rasheed Carter/b and Mark Whitfield/dr through a collection of sophisticated originals and a cover. Of the latter, Jackie McLean’s “Twin Towers” has a Miles Davis ESP-ish sound with Gould supplying some Herbie Hancock fingerings under Escoffery’s rich tenor sax. The reference to Davis’ classic quintet is carried on with the warm “Ascension” with Pelt in a glowing form, and a Nefertiti’d “Mr. Willis” featuring Burton galloping over Carter’s long distance runner of a bass pulse. The harmonies of the horns are palpably gorgeous on “No Words Needed” and the muscles are flexed during “Iron Man” with some soulful keys delivered on the hip “For The Kids”. Testosterone powered jazz at it’s finest.