OUR TIME: REIMAGINING DAVE BRUBECK

The saxophonist Mark Zaleski pays homage to his mentor, Dave Brubeck, across these 7 tracks, where Jon Bean, Mark Cocheo, Danny Weller, Oscar Suchanek, Michael Mayo, and his brother, Glenn Zaleski, put a modern twist on old songs.

"Blue Rondo á la Turk" leads the listen with a very unique, rhythmic delivery that's quite smooth and stylish, and displays quivering sax prowess alongside Weller's bouncy bass and Glenn Zaleski's key acrobatics, and "The Duke" continues the creativity with a soulful and warm spirit that's even romantic in nature and offers some excellent solos.

Halfway through, "Softly, William, Softly" is indeed a gentle 8 minutes of sublime brass, keys and guitar that hints at the blues, while "They Say I Look Like God" recruits Michael Mayo on vocals for the poetic soft-rock meets jazz that embraces a haunting quality, too.

"The Golden Horn" and "Fujiyama" exit the listen, where the former moves swiftly, as Suchanek's playful drumming complements the firm tenor sax from Bean, and the latter finishes in balladry, where the only tune not altered from its original state flows with an immense amount of beauty.

Both of the Zaleski brothers were students of Brubeck, and they do his legacy proud here with a handful of melodies, grooves, and swinging moments that will hopefully expose others to Brubeck's interesting time signatures and his unparalleled manipulation of tone, meter and rhythm.