" data-original-title="" title="">Zhengtao Pan, born in Shanghai, China, less than twenty-five years ago, was already well-known as a designer of video games when he chose to move to Boston, MA, to study jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. Scenery In My Story is Pan's debut recording as leader of his Jazz Orchestra, and as its title suggests, the music is personal and thematic, tracing in solicitous terms Pan's impactful voyage from Shanghai to Boston.

Intimate, yes, but do not let the concept bother you. Once past that, the album is much the same as many similar enterprises that use the author's life experiences as a springboard from which to define his or her portrayal of contemporary jazz. What matters most is the swing quotient, and whether Pan can translate his vision into the kind of big-band blueprint that listeners who are well-versed in its framework and complexity might grasp and appreciate. Luckily, Pan and his able orchestra earn high marks in both categories, as the ensemble lends warmth and vitality to his largely colorful and charming compositions and arrangements.

Pan starts his voyage with the zephyr-like "Windy Days," which, he writes, are reminiscent of both Shanghai and Boston. Its gentle breezes are driven skyward by flutist