Blaise Siwula / Dom Minasi / Nobu Stowe / Ray Sage: New York Moments

Multi-reedman Blaise Siwula sparks the chain of events with darting, voracious and frenzied lines, often complemented by Minasi's swift, single note voicings. IThe quartet expands and contracts like a rubber band, while occasionally erupting into volcanic escapades. Pianist Nobu Stowe launches "Quartet IIb with a pensive framework that gravitates to ascending choruses, firmed-up by drummer Ray Sage's turbulent polyrhythmic attack. Here and elsewhere, the musicians execute ascending motifs as though they're trying to attain a zenith, or point of no return.

The customary, free-form style peaks and valleys shine glitteringly, where Stowe often rolls off Sage's energized patterns amid the lead soloists' excitable exchanges. With "Quartet IIa, Siwula's turbulent soprano sax attack rides above his band-mates' thrusting impetus. But they simmer the seething flow after making entry back into the atmosphere on the final piece, "Quartet I.

The artists generate an outward and forward-moving impetus that doesn't convey any hint of introversion. It's a no-holds barred workout that could parallel the bustle of metro New York, its darting and glancing rays of light veering off into an aggregation of incalculable directions. Avant-jazz at its very finest.

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