Tenor saxman and composer's tenth album as a leader with his regular sidemen for the past eight years, bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. Allen's playing sometimes murmurs, and other times rises to a heartfelt cry, his phrases have a deep blues feeling, and his compositions are built around concise, memorable melodies which he repeats until they've sunk deep into the listener's memory. But whether he is looking back to the earliest forms of America's home-grown music or pointing the way to its future, JD Allen never fails to challenge and engage the listener as few of his generation can.