Living Daylights - 500 Pound Cat (2017)

Living Daylights are a much-compacted powerhouse, a lean trio of Seattle-based jazz players who've been privy to electric fusion as much as bebop. Saxophonist Jessica Lurie (of the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet) plays tight-lipped long lines when Arne Livingston's electric bass is in the spotlight, but Lurie also blows away scales with fervor when the trio is romping across freer-sounding jazz-scapes. The group prefers the faster, hoppier end of the electric jazz scale, managing to hit on the "one" even while spinning in frenetic cycles. But they also conjure the Balkan region with tunes like "Trauma and Discourse," with drummer Dale Fanning playing polyrhythms that dizzy the ear during Lurie's alto sax-led melodic contortions. -- Andrew Bartlett