The Magician: Live in Jerusalem

There's the familiar and the less familiar here - the familiar certainly for Dave Douglas fans the presence of the trumpeter's 'Spring Ahead,' which was on the Stargazer album back in the 1990s, and 'Persistence of Memory' recorded in such settings as 2009 big band album A Single Sky. The other tunes, less familiar but in keeping with what Douglas provides are the progressively edgy hard bop tunes that Israeli saxophonist Alon Farber contributes. Recorded last summer live at the Jerusalem Jazz Festival, Farber's band Hagiga has an unusual sound given that the clarinet of Yehonatan Cohen often jostles with the trombone of Oded Meir in the bustling small group mix. And you get salty contrasts across reed and brass instruments within that collision. Powered by a piano/bass/drums rhythm section at just five tunes it's over too soon and chances are you'll be seeking even more of this brawling, lit-up-inside raucous sound pretty damn quick.