Saxophonist and composer Branford Marsalis has always been the more adventurous of the Marsalis family (his brother Wynton being the staunch traditionalist), and as is the case with all adventurous musicians, his experiments sometimes pan out and sometimes don’t. This saucily-titled quartet date finds him at the peak of his powers, playing straight-ahead jazz with a bit of a twist: there are two standards, but the rest of the album consists of original compositions by the band — some of which swing powerfully but feature slippery, sideways chord progressions (“The Mighty Sword”) while others are just plain quirky (“Brews”). Everything here is very much worth hearing.

– Rick Anderson