" data-original-title="" title="">David Lopato's seventh album, is for the most part modern in the best sense of the word. Lopato's musical influences are wide, ranging from jazz, blues and rock to avant-garde and free improvisation while embracing themes from Africa, Latin America and Asia—most notably Indonesia where he spent a year on a Fulbright scholarship learning to play the Javanese gamelan. Even when fusing these diverse bonds into a single vision, however, Lopato seldom strays from the basics, framing melodies and harmonies that even casual listeners can understand and appreciate. In other words, no matter how far afield Lopato and his ensemble may roam, jazz remains its core element, the one to which every pathway ultimately leads.

Whatever else one does, it is useless to pigeonhole Lopato's music, as there may be straight-ahead jazz one moment and old-line swing the next, followed by a Buddhist meditation, an avant-garde locution, Latin-centered rhythms, a New Orleans vibe, and even an intense and romantic ballad or two. After opening with