A truly collaborative effort, Loose gives equal billing to drummer Matt Wilson, tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor, and bassist Bob Bowen. No one is in charge. Each of the three has a hand on the steering wheel, and thanks to a delicate balance of trust and communication, the car stays on the road. The nine tracks vary widely in terms of rhythmic design and compositional detail, and can be thought of as commentaries on the relationship of structure to freedom. (Talmor and Bowen each contribute four tunes, Wilson one.) There's a tilt toward free playing on busier tunes such as Yurname, Slog, and Denis Dilek, but there are also strong compositional kernels that encourage a kind of off-handed precision in performance. One hears this precision quite clearly when the trio ends these three cuts together on a dime. And one hears a very different kind of precision on the slower, more dour numbers, Compulsion, S.A.D., and Surround -- the last of which, penned by Matt Wilson, makes cunning use of silence. Note too the probable reference to Mingus's Boogie Stop Shuffle in the first few melody notes of Slinky, the leadoff track. The M.O.B. Trio's work is indicative of the new creative juice that young jazz artists are pumping into the classic tenor/bass/drums lineup. Like-minded efforts by Scott Colley (The Magic Line) and Seamus Blake and Marc Miralta (SunSol) also stand out. ~ David R. Adler, Rovi

1		Slinky
2		Yurname
3		Compulsion
4		Slog
5		S.A.D.
6		Proxy
7		Surround
8		Denis & Dilek
9		Funk Assembly

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