Guitarist Brown is best known as everyone's fusion sideman (his employers have included Billy Cobham and the Brecker Brothers), and the tightly focused Here underlines his position as master ensemble man. He takes solo breaks here and there, but the lead spotlight mostly falls on his featured guests, including a lyrical, Pastorian Marcus Miller on "Gemini" and a coiled, molten David Sanborn on "Back in the Day". The latter's nothing to do with Courtney Pine's album of the same name. Far from it--almost all the compositions and arrangements are Brown's own, and it's in the sharp, detailed ensemble writing that he scores. Fans of 1980s fusion will find much to marvel over in the imaginative sound-painting here, whether Brown's cutting a slamming funk groove or unfolding a blues ballad. He's aided inestimably by such luminaries as Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, James Genus, JuJu House, Billy Cobham and Christian McBride. --Mark Gilbert