Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Phil Driscoll always seems to have a new recording - there are 30 albums available from his website! He returns here with his first completely original instrumental album, featuring some of the best West Coast musicians around, eg, Abraham Laboriel and Alex Acuna. Personally, I'm a bit of a sucker for West Coast jazz so I'm biased towards this type of music to mellow to late at night when the lights are down low, but looking objectively, it's not everyone's thing. This is not a collection of jamming sessions, apart from the first track, where Phil plays the ramshorn, all the tracks feature his hallmark trumpet and flugelhorn being used mainly as a vocalist within a song structure. The mood, as suggested by the title, is contemplative and is paraphrased on his website as "The Quiet. In the stillness of the morning, with the quiet of the dawn, when gentle rains must fall." Track names such as "Spirit Rain" and "Reflections" indicate the general direction. There are movements towards fusion a la early Terje Rypdal in the title track and similarities with much of Windham Hill's catalogue. While not quite as completely polished as a Bob James record perhaps, and despite a couple of cheesy moments, this is well worth a mellow-out!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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