NYC-based pianist Rina was shows impressive ideas and chops on this trio album with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Jerome Jennings on this collection of originals. The seven three-membered pieces are bookended by solo outings that richly display her warm classical Chopinesque touch, poetic and pretty on “Tale of Small Wishes” and optimistic and yearning on the closing “Hope”. In between, she creates mood changes from bossa to swing on the grooving “Shadows Of The Mind”, going impressionistic with Nakamura on “With You, Always” and gives a rich drone to Jennings’ pulsating cymbal on “Run and Rise”. She never runs out of ideas, mixing joy and intricacy with the gents on the uptempo “Journey” and veers around Jennings drums as he’s featured on “Foxglove”. Jennings’ brushwork also shines on the slowly undulating “JJs Paintings” which as each artist slowly enter stage left to go from solo to duet to trio like a Mozartian opera. Impressive playing and an extra point for creativity.