Bliss here from Havana born New Yorker pianist Manuel Valera and his thrusting Afro-Cuban and hard bop slanted quintet on a stylish selection of originals plus a version of Kenny Kirkland's 'Chance' first recorded by Billy Hart on his Oshumare album in the mid-1980s and by the much missed ex-Branford Marsalis and Sting Dream of the Blue Turtles player Kirkland in the 1990s. On the Valera version Alex Norris' fluttering horn solo is one of the most illuminating passages.

Tenor saxist John Ellis also heard on bass clarinet and flute on Vessel, trumpeter/flugel player the aforementioned Norris, double bassist Hamish Smith and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr join a very lit up inside Valera on this studio album recorded in New Jersey earlier this year. Pick of the tunes is the beautiful Valera original 'Remembrance' where Ellis on bass clarinet comes through so well in the ensemble arrangement.