Paul Booth: No Looking Back

Booth's tenor saxophone dances gracefully around the frenetically paced title track. The tune's jagged rhythmic structure—moving back and forth from odd-metered funk to swing—creates an enticing foundation where improvised ideas easily flourish. Booth's sound is forceful and focused, reminiscent of Michael Brecker's inspired edginess. Like Brecker, Booth has overwhelming technical facility. He is able to manipulate the entire range of his horn, mixing lyrical, sometimes angular phrasing with rapid-fire runs. His solos on the pseudo-samba "Andorra, the funky "Penguin Dance and the Duke Ellington ballad "Come Sunday —performed unaccompanied—stand out as exceptionally vibrant.

The disc's other main soloist is guitarist Stuart McCallum, who tears through Charles Mingus' "Better Git It in Your Soul and Booth's swinging "Cross Channel. The clean-toned guitarist has a playful approach, at once soulful and experimental. Pianist Mike Gorman plays a mainly unselfish role as sympathetic accompanist and interpreter of Booth's music. When Gorman is given the opportunity to shine, however, he proves to be a dynamic improviser. His solo on "Cross Channel is a blistering, chops-heavy romp. Bassist Phil Donkin and drummer Dave Smith add solid, steadfast support.

As an instrumentalist and composer, Booth has a wide-ranging scope. The music on No Looking Back is well-conceived, astonishingly contemporary and, as the title suggests, forward-looking.