Vurdering: 4/5

"Viewed from London, the semiology surrounding New York-based vibraphonist Joel Ross' octet, heard on his third Blue Note album (...), tells a social story as much as it does a musical one. The octet's optics (check the YouTube film) are strikingly similar to those of the alternative jazz scene which has emerged in London since around 2017 ... Musically and socially, the album resonates with that of another young New Yorker's spring 2022 Blue Note outing, pianist Gerald Clayton's Bells On Sand. A movement of like-minded musicians appears to be on the ascendancy. Bring it on ... The Parable Of The Poet is a suite, sumptuously lyrical and for the most part peaceful and prayerful. It is also a collective endeavour (another close match with the new London jazz), in that while Ross wrote all the material, his light-touch arranging is designed to encourage in-the-moment individual and group contributions from the band. And what a band..."

"While Ross delivered his first two highly acclaimed albums with a quintet, this new group puts even more emphasis on his compositional style where just enough is written down for the players to deliver ensemble passages, melody and counterpoint interplay, spontaneous dialogues, and improvisational, albeit mostly singular solo flights as the pieces do not rely on a series of solos"