Last year, Joel Ross’ The Kingmaker impressed a lot of people with its mellow interplay and rich sub-currents. This time around, he stretches out a bit by lengthening a few songs, and adding harpist Brandee Younger for a handful of the tracks to join in with his team of alto saxist Immanuel Wilkins, pianist Jeremy Corren, drummer Jeremy Dutton and newcomer bassist Kanoa Mendenhall.
The delicate strings create a gloriously mystical atmosphere for Wilkins and Ross to float on a rubato for John Coltrane’s “After The Storm” with the sounds hovering like a morning mist. The team is dreamy with harp and bass glistening during “When My Head Is Cold” and bluesy during “Harmonee”. As a quintet, Ross and company do some gentle buildups to rich climaxes from humble origins on “Dream” and “Home” with Mendenhall letting his bass serve as a lead in to the latter. Wilkins alto is assertive as Dutton and Ross drive with the clutch out on “Vartha” while soft tones on “Gati’s Gift” and the gentle “King’s Loop” are reminiscent of the previous album. It still feels like Ross’ allegiance is to calm waters, but this time out he creates some whitewater currents as well.