This 2020 collection of Ernie Mansfield compositions and arrangements is based on time spent in France and Spain. There are two different line-ups within this album (plus a totally solo piece), and I note that the one which provides the support for the two vocal numbers (apart from singer Julie Searles) is exactly the same as the one from nearly 40 years earlier, so I do wonder if these songs were recorded at the time of ‘Windsailor’ and only now seeing the light of day, as opposed to getting the old band back together. There are two classics included here this time, “Clair De Lune” (Claude Debussy) and “Pavane” (Maurice Ravel), and Ernie provides not only flute on this album but also saxophones, keyboards and guitar.
The overall feeling of this release is that of a laid-back Summer, yet there are times when we also move into the jazz rock fusion of the late Seventies, with fluid bass and keyboards combined with punchy percussion allowing Ernie to life the tempo and move in a quite different direction. The use of different line-ups plus some vocal tracks combined with multiple styles means this album does not have the same amount of focus as the previous one, and while it does work well within the canon he has put together, my personal feeling is that this is not quite up to the same standard. It is enjoyable, but far removed from essential, and is not the one I would seek out when starting to discover his work although it is certainly a pleasant find when having worked through the others.
Rating: 7/10