This is recorded and played and mixed so that you hear  bassist Stphan Crump, drummer Marcus GIlmore, and pianist Vijay Iyer equally, all of them at the front of the mix. That means that the bass and drums are much louder than you get on a jazz piano trio album, and the lower frequencies are thick. Everything is also alive and sparkly without being chaotic or shouty—this isn’t exactly dinner music, though it is very friendly. The take on the Michael Jackson classic, “Human Nature,” is good enough to justify the whole expedition, which blends Ellington and Flying Lotus tunes into a stack of Iyer compositions. Long and meaty and great.

– Sasha Frere-Jones