Tenor saxist Doug Stone has a rich Sonny Rollins’d muscular feel to his sound, and he ups the ante by bringing in boss tenor Donnie Norton to the front line along with a bopping yet flexible rhythm team of Braun Khan/b and Brian Claxton/dr for a collection of originals. The team has the loose yet cogent Charles Mingus feel to its work as the horns bop in after the nifty intro by Claxton on “In Your Step” while the reeds gives shades of blue on the drifting “Unintended Consequences”. The harmonies are palpable on the thick and modal “Just Let It Make Sense” and are as smooth as an Ellington section over Claxton’s brushes on “Silly Me” while they simmer over Khan’s bass line on the modern “Hangin’ In”. The two solo in very similar fashion, in the school of forward thinking hard bop tenors like Rollins, Foster, Wess and Gordon. Nice to hear some saxes with meat on the bones!