Trumpeter Valery Ponomarev has this to say: "I believe that music, and jazz particularly, has to have a story behind it. That's when music becomes music, rather than a bunch of notes." On his sixth CD for Reservoir, Ponomarev lives up to his creed, and, like his former Jazz Messenger mentor Art Blakey, he brings out the best in his sidemen on all of his albums. Here, he's joined by tenor saxophonist Michael Karn, pianist Sid Simmons, bassist Martin Zenker & drummer Jimmy Cobb.