Criss Cross Jazz 1351 CD

Opus 5

Pentasonic

The powerful all-star quintet Opus 5 returns with Pentasonic, the follow-up to their muscular 2011 debut Introducing Opus 5 (Criss 1339). It's a can't-miss lineup with tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin in the front line, David Kikoski doubling on piano and Fender Rhodes, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Donald Edwards on drums.

Once again Opus 5 puts original music by the band's members in the forefront, but the choice arrangements of Charlie Parker's seldom-heard Charlie's Wig and Freddie Hubbard's classic Red Clay bring unique and unexpected angles to the session. Moody and ethereal, rhythmically skewed, always furiously burning --- this is music that lives up to the name of everyone involved.