Surprise! opens with the very -ish head of the title track, definitely an unexpected move by a saxophonist noted for . And while ' trumpet solo and 's piano solo take things into a little more of the abstract, it never really loses that straight-head thread, which is really a band feature, a platform for individual solos and a tenor tone from far more mellifluous than his acerbic norm. returns to more typical terrain: piano swirls, tart-tone soprano flurries, and cymbal crashes. The nine-man includes double piano, bass, and drums, but they know how to stay out of each other's way and a radically compressed sound is actually an advantage here, helping to create the collective swirl background to 's circular breathing soprano lines on Ultimately, the material seems geared as much toward creating different settings as full-blown compositions per se. features ruminative guitar fills and piano while the leader's soprano flurries builds in intensity; is pure abstraction built on piano clusters and the metallic tones of a percussion instrument invented for a -related composition. is based on cards and addresses common problems of the inexperienced improviser -- it's a very exercise in melodic textures with four extra musicians in the ensemble and full of unexpected shifts and variations. Marimbas and percussion give an tinge to open before a muted trumpet and piano rhythm/melody that recalls 's work as a composer leads into an exercise in atmosphere and texture with on flute. It's even more intriguing for foreshadowing which strongly suggests that had spent time listening to '70s Ethiopian music. The piano riff and martial drums grind the piece in a lurching, shifting foundation while and intertwine their lines and roam freely. It's very easy to visualize as a track from the series filtered through the muse. closes with a bit more of that lurching groove and it's nice to have a more physical element as a counterbalance to 's sometimes austere texture and atmosphere forays. is a strong album that takes in a wide variety of musical settings -- short pieces, long pieces, excursions into tradition, textures, and abstraction -- without losing cohesiveness. It's an always interesting journey. ~ Don Snowden