Double reeds have the potential to sound terribly out of place on a jazz record (take Daniel Smith’s dubious Blue Bassoon project), but on Crossings Ben Kono makes a good case for the English horn. As the record opens, it settles lightly between Pete McCann’s guitar and Henry Hey’s piano, sounding almost like a soprano sax. But when it goes into parallel with Heather Laws’ French horn the effect is something quite different. Kono is a formidable multi-instrumentalist, tackling clarinets, oboes, flutes, even the shakuhachi. But he admirably avoids shoehorning them into inappropriate contexts. When things start to swing, he picks up the sax.

Kono’s compositional style resembles that of John Hollenbeck (who joins Kono on drums), even if it doesn’t reach the same level of complexity. As in Hollenbeck’s work, the influence of contemporary classical music is everywhere. Kono admits an interest in the New York-based Bang on a Can collective, and minimalist touches abound—particularly in the swirling winds that open “Castles and Daffodils” and “The Crossing”. Yet he continually tempers his more experimental inclinations, alternating with tracks that would sound right at home on most contemporary jazz stations. On “Castles and Daffodils” the aforementioned introductory fanfare breaks down after two or three minutes and transitions into a straight-ahead jam. The result is that Kono’s most interesting ideas never get taken to their logical conclusions.