Arvind Ramdas: Here We Go

As an album title, Here We Go presages the sort of intense, no-holds-barred session wherein everyone digs in as hard and as often as he can to help carry out its purpose. And that is more or less the norm on East Indian-born, Canadian-based drummer Arvind Ramdas' debut album, which doesn't often eclipse the sound barrier but swings boldly regardless of catalyst or tempo.

Ramdas has a lot to do with that, as does his section mate, bassist David Caballero, who helps him keep immaculate time. The front-liners, trumpeter Spencer Drody and alto saxophonist Tamas Balai, make sure the melody and harmony are in the best of hands, while pianist Noah Franche-Nolan straddles both fences, adding melodic emphasis where needed and reinforcing an already intrepid rhythm section.

The playlist is impressive, encompassing original compositions by Kenny Dorham, Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, one fresh theme apiece by Drody and Balai, the alluring standard "Autumn in New York" and, last but not least, the buoyant group-written burner, "Bird Lives" (attributed here to Peter Bernstein, Nat Reeves, Anthony Wonsey and Roy Hargrove).

Germane as that may be, it is the players who make the blueprint work, and everyone has brought his "A"-game to the showdown, not only blending efficiently as a unit but soloing with meaningful depth and assurance, thus proving time and again that the forty-eight states to Canada's south have no corner on that market. Drody and Balai solo adroitly on every number, Franche-Nolan on all save one, Caballero on five of the seven. As for Ramdas, he solos at length only on Dorham's animated "Asiatic Raes" and trades sharp volleys with Caballero on "Bird Lives."

When all is drafted and scored, Here We Go marks an inspiring coming-out party for Arvind and his talented supporting cast, each of whom embraces his role with discipline and enthusiasm. A team effort that pays generous dividends.