It’s amazing how the tight musical partnership of Natsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii is able to embrace just one more musician and build a set of performances that fully represents the talents of all three. With drummer Ramon Lopez, ‘Mantle’ musical democracy at its finest.

If there was going to be anyone who could figure out how to make a tenor saxophone work with an oud and Persian percussion, that would be Ivo Perelman, with Gordon Grdina and Hamin Honari likewise finding the right roles for their respective instruments alongside a sax for the trio improv date ‘The Purity of Desire.’

A galvanizing performance on stage makes it three for three for Barry Altschul and his 3Dom Factor. We could stand for another one after ‘Live In Kraków,’ however.