Trumpeter Al Strong uses his warm and expressive horn like a paintbrush on this colorful album of originals. He mixes and matches throughout, making a wide ranging palate with Braxton Cook/as, Sullivan Fortner-Chris Patishall-Ryan Hanseler-Charles Robinson/p, Marc Cary/key, Kevin Beardsley-Turman Woods/b, Jeremy Clemons/dr, Brevan Hampden/perc, Hugh Swaso-Mark Whitfield/g, Bluford Thompson jr-Louis Hawkins/ts, and a collection of strings and voices as cameo guests.
His rich and glowing tone is laid out like a sunrise on a duet with Robinson on a sighing “Intro Lullaby For The Ancestors”, and is reverent with the strings on a richly emotive journey on ‘Lift Every Voice And Sing” with some passionate soloing by Thompson. Strong gallops with the tribal percussion and Patishall’s piano on the earthy “ At-Nimara’s Journey” and glistens on a fragrant “Pure Imagination” before turning the piece into a frisky taffy pull.
His muted horn is sweet on the noirish “Out Of Mind, Just In Time”, while he is hep to the jive with Cook on the shuffling “Bull City Bounce”. With Gabrielle Cavassa at the mic, Strong taps into his inner Monk and creates an angular and prismatic herky jerky read of “Fly Me To The Moon” that is quite looney, indeed, while guitarist Mark Whitfield brings in some reflective tones to blend with Strong’s breathy brass on a testy “Black Love”. Each song here is a colorful piece of marble creating a rich mosaic of sounds.