Politicians might do well to take a few pointers from pianist-arranger Earl MacDonald. As this fine album attests to, it's far better to build bridges than walls, and far more productive to open borders and dialogue than close hearts, minds, and doors.

While MacDonald didn't initially set out to make a political statement with this recording, both the events of the day and the make-up of the marvelously tight dectet that brings this music to life got him thinking about all the good that comes of a wholehearted embrace of diversity. The differences that theoretically separate these ten musicians—age, faith, race, sex, and heritage—don't serve as impediments to communication or act as a threat to anybody's greater being. In fact, quite the opposite comes of this medium-scale gathering. This music, powered by each player's distinctive traits and bound by MacDonald's writing, shines with the light of diversity.

MacDonald's reduction/adaptation of his big band arrangement on Canadian drummer