Frank Wagner (bass) and David Meade (drum) have been working together off and on for nearly 30 years. This time they add Dave Marck on piano and round into a more traditional jazz combo. For the title track and other pieces, Ben Sutin adds a sinewy violin.

The Holland Court Trio Inverted Tango (Composers Concordance/Naxos)

The combo sticks largely to established works, though finding new ways of expression within them. On "Hi-Ya", the trio throws a new melody over the chord changes of Monk's "Bye-Ya." And even when the combo plays it (mostly) straight, the results are incendiary.

Wagner and Meade are totally locked in, and Marck slides into their grooves with apparent ease. These guys are formalists; they're not inventing new ways of writing or playing. They have ideas (both rhythmic and melodic) they want to express, and their playing is tight and expressive enough to stick the landing every time. Chaos, this is not.

Rather, it's music that even a novice would recognize not only as jazz, but smokin' hot jazz. The tango is in the title, but these NYC players pay homage to their town and their past throughout this set. When technical and expressive brilliances combine, the results shimmer with electricity. An album that will never go out of style in my home.

Jon Worley