(Origin Records)

On his latest, Meridies, pianist Dan Cray provides a fantastic portrait of contemporary quartet of musicians at work. Cray is joined by a terrific group comprised of Noah Preminger on saxophone, Clark Sommers on bass and Mark Ferber on drums, all whom provide solid musicianship in their respective chairs. The four musicians swing quite nicely on the uptempo tunes, and have a great sound on ballads as well. The recording is also a tremendous showcase of Cray’s considerable harmonic gifts as a composer. He wrote 6 of the project’s 8 tracks. The effort includes nice renditions of a Joe Henderson tune and the classic “Smile”. Cray is a terrific artist whose work should not be missed.