Leader Gene Ess plays guitar and synth as he brings together the pastoral team of Thana Alexa/voc, Sebastien Ammann/p, Yosushi Nakamura/b and Clarence Penn/dr to interpret his own rich compositions. Alexa sounds wonderful as she uses her wordless voice away from hubby Antonio Sanchez to give lovely textures to the soft “Sands of Time (Okinawa)” and the bopping “Two Worlds” as well as contributing poetic lyrics to the folksy “Same Sky.” Amman provides pretty flavors to Ess’s acoustic guitar on “Fireflies in the horizon” while Penn adds a funky backbeat to the fun and electric “Tokyo Red.” Fresh as newly picked flowers.