" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Slonaker checks all those boxes and more on Convergency, a superlative successor to his excellent Grammy-nominated debut album, Intrada, released in 2013.

To begin with, Slonaker, best known as a film and television composer, is an excellent big-band writer and arranger, one whose music, as was said of Intrada, is "contemporary in the best sense of the word, harmonically sophisticated yet always accessible thanks to an unswerving reliance on time-honored melodies and rhythms..." Slonaker retraces that path here; while his charts exemplify the best of contemporary big-band jazz, each one is fresh and sparkling, with more than enough dynamism and ingenuity to capture a listener's interest and hold it from start to finish.

Even so, Slonaker's best-laid plans and best-written charts would be undone were it not for the presence of talented and versatile musicians whose charge it was to breathe life into his musical concepts. That poses no problem, as the label "talented and versatile" can readily be applied to every member of Slonaker's world-class ensemble, comprised of a number of the most accomplished and sought-after players in his southern California bailiwick, from lead trumpeter