Beyond

In his short career, has been praised for his technical abilities and criticized for his lack of innovation -- not surprising responses to the work of a talented young artist. On , his seventh album which was recorded a few months after his 30th birthday, he attempts, as the title suggests, to try some new things. Employing an all new group consisting of pianist , bass player , and drummer , he presents an album of original tunes to follow , an album of cover material. Eschewing the pat jazz formula of a head followed by improvisations, he adopts a more free-flowing structure for his compositions in which anyone can start and the tune can develop in an open-ended fashion. He also experiments with time signatures: the closing track, is in 5/4 time; is in 6/4; is in 9/4; is in 10/4; and the lead-off track, is in 13/4. While no doubt hard to play, the tunes don' t sound all that complicated, perhaps because 's saxophone floats over the rhythm section, taking its time to make its statements. As the song titles imply, this is a contemplative album full of small, introspective pleasures, such as the exploratory on which and engage in a tenor conversation. It's not clear that the technical challenges presents himself and his sidemen with ultimately force them to do anything new, but represents a gifted musician tinkering with his musical approach with often satisfying results. ~ William Ruhlmann