It's difficult to imagine another contemporary jazz group pulling off the neat melding of reggae and Latin music that Acoustic Alchemy achieves on "Ernie," its soulful tribute to Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin. But you're unlikely to hear sitar effects and hip-hop on the same track, either, except if it's A.A.'s "Only in My Dreams." The longstanding British unit, co-led by guitarists Greg Carmichael and Miles Gilderdale, is in an especially expansive mood on "This Way," in terms of instrumentation (the guest players include trumpeter Rick Braun and saxist Jeff Kashiwa) and stylistic diversity. It's an album that pulls a Burt Bacharach-style melody on one song and utilizes tricky modern time schemes on the next. Programming is plentiful but restrained, placing the emphasis where it should be: on the clever writing and enthusiastic playing. --Lloyd Sachs