The Pristine Sound Of Root 70", the new album by Nils Wogram's band Root 70 is old-fashioned in the best sense of the word in a very lively, refreshing and authentic way. Because it makes us pause, reflect, take a breath and slow down. From the first note, it gives us something familiar that only wants to be rediscovered and adapted. If references from the past are anything to go by, the album sounds like a date between the Gerry Mulligan Bob Brookmeyer Quartet and the Albert Mangelsdorff Quartet of the late 1960s.

Trombonist Nils Wogram, saxophonist Hayden Chisholm, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Jochen Rueckert manage to open entirely new doors and windows for our time with the combative composure of those years.

In terms of sound, "The Pristine Sound Of Root 70" is the finest album the band has ever recorded. Wogram has always been a sound fetishist, but here he outdoes himself in this regard. You literally feel pressed into a plush old movie theater seat by the soft sound of these songs, literally waiting for the curtain to open. The visual quality of the music is immensely enhanced by this passionate persistence in sound. This is how the band seems to want to tell their listeners: We're telling you a story you all know, but we know you'll want to hear it again and again. Because that's exactly what we want to hear, too.