Gordon Grdina is a young Vancouver guitarist and oud player who studied informally with Gary Peacock over a 5 year period. Here is the outcome: a beautiful record of Gordon's tunes played by the best trio one could imagine. Indeed, the three play together with great empathy and commitment. Grounded in the new directions of the 60s (one might be reminded here and there of Paul Bley or Keith Jarrett), the music is full of heartfelt melodies and compelling rhythmic interplay. A few tunes played on the oud feature Arabic scales but are treated with the same improvisational abandon and formal concision as the archtop guitar pieces. Recorded and mixed in 24/88.2 to stereo and 5.0.