FRACTALS
***1/2 "It's rare that a recording is both experimental and accessible.  ...saxophonist and composer Ben Schachter accomplishes this delicate feat on Fractals. ...two basses...often creates a slamming context for Schachter, guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, and trumpeter Tim Hagans, who engage in some deep-end explorations.  In his love for angularity and preening dissonance, Schachter seems deeply under the influence of Thelonious Monk.  Yet there's a driving, more modern vibe at work here too.  The sassy basses keep matters rooted.  As for the title track, it's both harmonically adventurous and a rocking good tune."