Although song titles here deal with potential loss, musically, this is not a dour set of tunes. “Fortune” hedges in that direction, with an arrangement that is slow but never dirgey, as wisps of Benjamin Hoffman’s organ color the background. Bursts of boldness demarcate sections of “Dionysian,” with its circular melody and harmonizing saxophone and trumpet. No overwhelming joyousness is exclaimed during these compositions. But the impeccably performed batch of work succeeds, even if some of the narrative that prompted the writing of these tunes is lost on listeners who haven’t taken time to read up on Davis’ conceptual base here. - DownBeat Editors' Pick
