Following up his debut album Meditations on Mingus ("Ingenious wrinkles along with dazzling and deeply realized performances from all" - Neil Tesser, Jazziz), bassist Ethan Philion pivots from a larger 10-piece unit to a spry, economical quartet on his brilliant sophomore release Gnosis. The spirit of Charles Mingus is present, most clearly in the quartets treatment of "What Love" (Minguss epic deconstruction of the Cole Porter standard "What Is This Thing Called Love"). But the focus on this new outing is original music, played with drive and ceaseless invention by alto saxophonist Greg Ward, trumpeter Russ Johnson and drummer Dana Hall joining the leader on bass.