Electric guitarist Antoine Berthiaume made a strong impression with his first two CDs in the free improv vein. Here was a young musician who demonstrated integrity and vision, with veterans Derek Bailey Fred Frith and younger players. This CD is Berthiaume’s first jazz outing and that same sense of adventure is there in this set of originals, with bassist Michel Donato and drummer Pierre Tanguay. The guitarist sizzles with a flurry of single notes in the first tunes, but much of the CD consists of mid-tempo tone poems, portraits of friends, including the late guitarist Dan Noseworthy. Throughout, Berthiaume offers an intriguing harmonic vocabulary that manages to be simultaneously soulful and modern, a winning combination. Rating 4