02: Her Sanctuary
03: Ripertoli
04: Lake Of Weathers
05: Daly Avenue
06: Snowfall In Central Park
07: Ambleside Nights
08: A Big Wavy Thing
09: Infinite Blue
10: Miramar
Virtuosity can, when it's the raison d'être, be an impediment; when it's a foundation, in service of the music, it can be liberating. Storms/Nocturnes was initially the brainchild of Tim Garland but, after first convening as a subset of the sextet on the closing track to the British saxophonist/composer's Made By Walking (Stretch, 2000), ultimately evolved into a more egalitarian working trio. Both Storms/Nocturnes (Sirocco, 2001) and Rising Tide (Sirocco, 2003) combined the kind of rigorous material only the most skilled players could compose and navigate, with the loose spontaneity and empathetic interaction that such stunning virtuosity can afford, while remaining especially rare and precious for a trio that was always an occasional venture by necessity—spread, as its members were, across great distances, with Garland in London, pianist Geoffrey Keezer in San Diego, and vibraphonist Joe Locke a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker. It's been seven years since the trio last worked together, but you'd never know it on VIA, an album that celebrates the many locations Storms/Nocturnes has encountered, both at home and in the near-countless locales its players have visited on the road. (JOHN KELMAN)
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