The Inner Circle
The standout alto saxophonist Greg Osby attracts the best young musicians like a magnet. And, like a classic bandleader (though he is hardly gray in the beard), he gets them on the same creative page.Inner Circleis loaded with tricky music--staggered stop-and-start rhythms, stretched harmonies, turn-on-a-dime transitions, close-shaved unison lines--but it comes through the speakers fully formed and in full flight, thanks to the inspired interplay of his quintet. Osby, pianistJason Moran, vibraphonistStefon Harris, and bassist Taurus Mateen previously banded together in Blue Note's New Directions sextet and have grown only more cohesive. Behind some of Osby's most pointed playing, Harris shows off his ability to provide just the right accent or hue at just the right time, while Moran reveals the strong-armed intensity that he sometimes sells short on his own projects. The drummer is Eric Harland, who never sells any of his deft strokes short.--Lloyd Sachs