Here’s an album that takes the ideas created by Yusef Lateef to a new level. Jean-Luc Oboman Fillon plays the oboe and the cor anglais (which is simply an oboe with a lower pitch)and creates some rich and exotic moods with violinist Mark Feldman and a rhythm team of Francois Mehcali/b and Francoi Merville/dr.
There is a jazz pulse and attitude throughout thes originals, with some jazzy work by the leads on a bluesy “WWW,” but almost every piece feels like the band is walking a tightrope without a net, as the bass and drum create a semi free pulse and the reeds howl on “Pentacle” or the drums keep things free but together on the dancing “Four Winds.” High pitches of reeds and strings get playful on “1960” and the two veer together and stream apart as Merville’s mallets create a deep mood on “Ravi” and Mechali’s bass looms under the wide open spaces on “5 Senses of Keen.” Thoughtful and frenetically attractive.