Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's Race Riot Suite is a reminder how adventurous the group has always been since its inception in 1994—never more so, perhaps, than in its latest incarnation, in place beginning in 2010.

Four intervals, labeled "Prayers," are interspersed throughout the seven formally labeled tracks and allow JFJO to demonstrate its own collective and individual skill at improvisation. That cursory and close listens whet the appetite for more such jamming is a tribute to the judicious way this album was recorded and produced in the same city where the events took place. It's a tribute to the writing and the playing of all involved that the transitions in and out of the structure are seamless. Chris Combs' lap steel solo on "Black Wall Street" is as jaunty as double bassist Jeff Hershbarger's, and both interludes extend the mood of the structured piece.

That said, the group's deference to a star-studded horn section on this extended composition is startling on first listen and confounding on subsequent spins. Inspired by the 1921 riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this extended suite—written, arranged and orchestrated by Combs—finds the five-man woodwind complement prominent from the very start. The core quartet then serves to embroider themes such as those stated on "Prelude," for instance, which are then recapitulated by trumpeter Steve Bernstein, baritone saxophonist