What a pleasant surprise. When a group named Anishana records an album built around Native American themes and concepts, the inclination is to withhold judgment while preparing for the worst. Yes, Anishana is an Algonquin-derived term meaning "where do you come from?" And yes, Anishana loosely bases the music in Corners of the Sky on Native American customs and beliefs. The good news is that those indigenous Americans evidently had jazz chops no one suspected and swung like plumage in a windstorm.

In other words, even while giving tribal music its due, Anishana never loses sight of its purpose as a contemporary jazz ensemble, which is to blend whatever music is at hand into the over-arching sphere of sophisticated harmonies and rhythms as they relate to present-day audiences. There are, to be sure, moments wherein the music that inspired Anishana's perspective is very much alive, but they serve for the most part as a springboard for patterns that may rest more easily in the ears of listeners who are more attuned to contemporary sounds. The album's ten tracks include three brief "interludes" in which flautist