Trombonist Michael Pallas teams up with Lomar Brown/as, Yeisson Villamar/p, John Benitez/b, Jonathan Barber/dr and Nelson Matthew Gonzalez/pec for a collection of originals. There’s a nice Latin percolation to the dancing “ Life On Mars” and the soulful “Streaming Hope” with some rich work by Villamar, who gives some Herbie Hancock ideas on “The Verdict”. Pallas bops well with Brown on “Gateway” and Variant” and waltzes along “One For The City”, which makes one wonder why a few of the songs take a hip hop, mechanical direction. “Counterfeit Blues” has some rap lyrics by Ghazi Omair”, synthetic sounds dominate “Patient (s)” and the going gets tribal on “Beyond (The Gateway”. Who took the sharp turns?