Label: Rainy Days Records, 2020

Personnel - Rosario Giuliani: alto saxophone; Dmitry Mospan: tenor saxophone; Josh Evans: trumpet; Benito Gonzalez: piano; Makar Novikov: bass; Sasha Mashin: drums.

Happy Synapse is the sophomore album from St.Petersburg-native drummer Sasha Mashin, leader of a sextet featuring recent accomplices Dmitry Mospan on tenor, Josh Evans on trumpet, and Benito Gonzalez on piano. Rounding out the group are altoist Rosario Giuliani and bassist Makar Novikov, who had participated in the drummer’s debut CD.

The amalgamation of joy and spirituality conveyed by the eight tracks on this album hides the depressive state that Mashin lived while growing up in Russia. The drummer struggled with stigmatization and with his own mental health, but also experienced happy synapses that brought him hope. Hence the title.

The writing credits belong to Evans, Gonzalez, Mospan and Giuliani, who contribute two pieces each. The CD opens and closes with the latter’s compositions, two of the strongest. “The Hidden Voices” has the liveliness of the drum intro announcing a wild ride prepared with Coltrane-McCoy modal instinct and complementary up-tempo swinging sections. Solos by Gonzalez and Giuliani make it a highlight. “The Hidden Face of Stars” finds fluidity and elegance at every move. It’s brought to a simmer during the theme statement, where Gonzalez fills the gaps left by the horns’ sluggish melodies, but completely boils and bubbles with the advanced, straight-ahead improvisatory command of Evans and Giuliani. The former blows with vivid color and wide range, while the latter aligns torrents of notes to form logical phrases. Both reveal eloquence and sophistication in their vocabulary.

Evans’ “Sulieman Saud” opens with gorgeous piano melodies before starting to explore modal sequences that serve to underpin bright unisons. At this point, Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” comes to mind, but then it’s Gonzalez who deservedly claims the spotlight. The trumpeter also penned “Sim Card”, a scorching hard-bop infiltration that musically describes how his friendship with Mashin began. He inaugurates the soloing department by dropping notes with astonishing precision and Freddie Hubbard-like intensity.

Also hard-bop-influenced is Mospan’s “Inner News”, whose layout relies on a deep swinging, hard-driving style. It differs from the tenorist’s other tune, “Incantation”, a soul-stirring exercise introduced and propelled by bass. Mashin’s talking drums appear confidently, closing out an improvisational section deeply etched by tenor, trumpet, and piano.

“Night Melody” and “Flowing” are both creations of Gonzalez’s musical sensibility. Rhythmically driven by mallets, the former piece lives in a permanent state of suspension, while the latter is a Latin jazz brew packed with jazz history - lick suggestions go from Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” and “Acknowledgement” to Cedar Walton’s “Bolivia”.

People whose musical taste leans on tradition won’t regret buying this one, while modernists can also enjoy pure moments of jazz expansion.