Steve Million, thoughtful, well established, and prolific, has recorded another elegant outing to complement his Jazz Words (Origin, 2021). No vocalist this time, but some old friends from his Kansas City days who combine to produce a wonderfully reflective entry.

Million's compositions—and they are all his—are stylish and distinctive. "Open the Book" is an appropriate title for a sonorous and thoughtful entrance, although named for his daughter Peige, at the time of writing, a year old, but now forty. Mildly up tempo, "Old Earl" moves along, somewhere between fusion, bop, and Latino. It is anything but conventional, with Million and Steve Cardenas humming along, and Cardenas framing an engaging solo. "The Company," (is this a reference to the one in Langley, VA?) is an exercise in tension and release, featuring a kind of circular melodic and instrumental refrain. "Situations" features Million on solo piano, straight but moving into swing time, right on the beat throughout, generating some sense of hurry that flows into a dialog between bass and drums. "My Explanation" (and reading the liner notes, you can understand