has been exploring jazz's boundaries since the 1970s, and eventually became the vocal director of 's . also sang with transgenerational collective (co-founded by and ), as well as saxophonists , , and . In addition to jazzers, he has also guested with funk, rock, hip-hop, and R&B musicians. He's employed plenty of both live but has never allowed for wholesale experimentation with his approach. Until , that is. This set, like its excellent predecessor, 2019's , appears on and was produced by . Musically, all similarities end there. 's core quintet includes longtime collaborator, jazz keyboardist , gospel bassist ( ), drummer/percussionist ), and veteran guitarist ). Opener "Truth" is introduced by rippling electric bass, drum cymbals, and skittering synths. When begins singing, it's almost a prophetic declaration: "Right is wrong/Wrong is right/... Y'all know truth is in exile ... Lyin' is in style right now...." layers a Hammond B-3 atop a pulsing synth as double times the band with breaks, rolls, fills, and accents. "My Stomping Ground" is its polar opposite. Introduced by funky left coast bass and electric guitar lines, speaks as much as he sings, but it's not a rap, it's more like a poem relating the singer's personal landmarks in the City of Angels. 's synth adds a crescendo as a refrain, but the band comes right back, low, slow, and steamy. "Beach Vibes" is warm, spacy, and carried by 's roaming bassline. allows himself to be buoyed by Rhodes piano, guitar, and 's lithe drumming. The nearly ten-minute "Derf Recklaw" pays tribute to the former ' and multi-instrumentalist and longtime friend who passed away in 2022. Bass and keys lead it off as colors the margins with shard-like vamps while creates a wide sonic palette to frame the rhythm section's canny interplay. He also provides with an improvisational ledge to explore. "Black Dance" is the set's longest cut. It weds vanguard electric post-bop, mutant funk, improvisation, and R&B with a killer duet vocal and solo from adding resonance. "African Drum" weds '70s-era West African highlife via 's guitar to guest 's tenor sax, a languid yet swinging African rhumba rhythm under funky, trance-like Afrobeat keys and bass. Closer "Wind" is a humid, nocturnal exercise in ambient abstraction that recalls the Fourth World music of as moans and wails in and around the music. 's vocals are, as always, warm, spiritual, and instantly recognizable; 's compositions -- written by the quintet -- rely on dynamic electric instrumentation, funky polyrhythms, and abstract harmonics. Using a deliberate spatial approach, they balance circular interplay, deep listening, and killer improvisation. is an auspicious new direction for the vocalist. ~ Thom Jurek