How do you follow up a lovely and intimate album of Ellington and Strayhorn ballads? If you're Scottish tenor saxist Tommy Smith, you unleash this gritty, brash, and groove-heavy monster. Backed by a stellar rhythm section featuring guitarist John Scofield, bassist James Genus, and drummer Clarence Penn, Smith sinks deep in the pocket at times and searches inquisitively and aggressively at others. Even at his most explorative, he never seems rash or unfocused; on the contrary, he always seems to know exactly what he's doing with each cascading flurry. The fierce, Coltrane-like calisthenics he performs on "Touch Your Toes" soon give way to the sumptuously slow-grinding "Blacken' Blue," in which he savors each note as if he were sucking on a rib tip. On the surface, this often raucous record has little in common with an album of Ellington ballads. But there are telling similarities, most notably the confidence and certainty with which Smith plays and the supreme importance that he places on his full-bodied tone. One can only hope that his decision to live across the pond doesn't keep him from receiving the recognition he's earned. --Marc Greilsamer