Those musicians who strongly resist the usual stylistic stereotypes often create the most exciting music. This is certainly the case with Brian Ales. On his inspired CDs, Ales combines the tonal imagery of a soundtrack with the compositionally open nature of jazz and the rhythmic intensity of ethnic music. His newest album, "November", is performed with Curtis Hasselbring (tb), Joel Springer (ts, cl), Cuong Vu (tp), the drummer Ben Wittmann and the percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, along with the Icelandic bassist Skuli Sverrisson. Together, they create an impressive overall picture, drawing tension from the contrast between a predominantly introspective, seemingly contemplative harmonic structure and the frequently surging rhythmic structure.

Brian Ales: guitar, bass, percussion / Bill Frisell: guitar / Joel Springer: tenor saxophone / Adam Kolker: flute / Bill Urmson: bass / Ben Wittmann: drums, percussion / Matt Arriau: alto saxophone / Vinnie Nobile: trombone / Ed Lucie: bass / Sharan Levanthal: violin / Evan Harlan: accordion / Danny Morris: bass / George Schuller: bass drum / Jerry Deupree: drums / Bob Familiar: synth riff / Anders Boström: flute / Albert Mora Griso: flute / Bob Baker: trombone / Vinnie Nobile: trombone / Tom Hall: bari saxophone / Alan Hall: drums / Ricardo Monzun: percussion / Philip Hamilton: lead vocals / Alain mallet: sampled accordion / Justin Cohen: trumpet / Colin Haydu: trombone / Dominique Eade: voice / Nancy Zeltsman: marimba / Abby Rabinovitz: bass flute / Adam Kolker: bass clarinet / Mike Rivard: bass / Simon Haggiag: percussion / Russ Gold: percussion