Detroit-born alto saxophonist Garrett first stepped out with Mercer Ellington's orchestra in 1978, but really came of age playing for Miles Davis a decade later. This was his third Warners album, with all but one tune spurting from Coltrane's improvisatory flashfire. Garrett's chief foil throughout is guitarist Pat Metheny, the quartet completed by bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Brian Blade. "Countdown" sets off immediately on a probing race, a typically marathon Garrett solo, drums splashing and pounding around him, split into separate speakers in the old-fashioned way. "Equinox" adopts an easier pace, initially restful, with Metheny smoothing over the ruffles, but again building up to an overblowing intensity. The guitarist enters "Lonnie's Lament" with a screaming solo, emitting a nervier pitch from his synth array than is sometimes the case. "After The Rain" suspends its introductory cry for virtually the complete course, Garrett eternally hanging, never resolving, with Metheny coaxing uncanny harp-like shards from between his strings, once again contributing a siren solo to the closing "Latifa", the album's only non-Coltrane exception, bowing out with a Siamese-twinned alto/guitar squeal. Given that Garrett's latest opus, Simply Said, is somewhat mellow and meandering by comparison, it's probably wise to delve back a few years for this and 1997's Songbook. --Martin Longley