Pianist and composer follows up his 2022 debut, , with 2024's , a tonally wide-ranging and amusingly unpredictable project showcasing two different trios. The first half of the album features bassist and drummer , adept players who dive into a handful of 's distinctive originals. In particular, cuts like the opening "Conundrum," with its -esque minor-key melody, and "Victory Is Assured," with its ringing sleigh bell-sounding piano chord intro, evoke a bold cross between the 1960s work of the and the crisply arranged, rock-influenced style championed with . There's also the slowly churning "The Way Things Are," whose loping, twangy melody and crunchy chordal accents bring to mind both and . Elsewhere, the pianist is joined by bassist for two deeply felt standards performances, including a tender reading of the R&B ballad "Killing Me Softly with His Song." We also get a bold rendition of "Round Midnight" featuring a vocal-like theremin lead from . That latter track conjures a theatrical chamber-music vibe, as if was scoring a 1940s film noir. The final three songs also have a chamber quality and feature a three-part solo piano sonata that finds displaying his broad classical influences. Those last three tracks, as with much of , reflect 's hard-to-contain music personality -- reserved and lyrical one minute and leaping with wild, dancerly ideas the next. ~ Matt Collar