Despite busy schedules, the five co-leaders of Opus 5 return once again with a fourth album, Tickle, a statement of great virtuosity, melodic integrity and rhythmic focus. Taking its place alongside Introducing Opus 5, Pentasonic and Progressions, this session finds the band in peak form, interpreting compositions by all the band's members. From the shifting funk to swing of drummer Donald Edwards-penned title track, to the singable purity of tenorist Seamus Blake's opening Silver Pockets, to the poetic bass cadenza and plaintive mood of bassist Boris Kozlov's closing ballad Murzake, Tickle secures Opus 5's place as one of the most compelling and long-lived collectives in recent years. Pianist David Kikoski composed the beautiful New Old Ballad, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin wrote Equilibrium.