John Carroll Kirby

★★★★ Septet STONES THROW. CD/DL/LP

Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters is an obvious touchstone for John Carroll Kirby’s second LP, an expansive, summery jazz-funk crossover that lives and dies on its monster grooves. While the Solange and Frank Ocean keyboardist’s loose, winding synth solos rarely falter, cosmic epic Nucleo and the skittering, Morricone-edged Sensing Not Seeing show real breadth of ambition, adding the pizzazz its predecessor My Garden lacked.