Hot off the presses, or rather available on all the major streaming services since early July 2021, is the debut album from New Orleans’ own soul-brass quintet Brass Lightning. Consonance is a recording with a potent jazz sensibility and a modern worldly sound amid instrumentation similar to that of brass band.

With three horns out front—Ari Kohn on woodwinds, Evan Oberla on trombone and Cyrus Nabipoor on trumpet—the tunes on the album have a rich group texture and exhibit strong individual soloing. The rhythm section of Evan Paydon on bass and Brendan Bull on drums holds down the bottom end, keeping some songs in the solid modern-jazz tradition and letting others stretch into more challenging territory.

The songwriting is split between all of the band members with Nabipoor composing a three-part tune, “Beauty Marks.” Kohn, Paydon and Oberla contribute two cuts each and Bull adds his talents on the third track, “Dumplins,” which pops with the drummer’s syncopated touch. Percussionist Mike Dillon helps keep the song grounded in the groove as the horns deliver top-notch solos and a big unison crescendo.

Dillon is all over this album appearing on half the songs including contributing vibraphone to two cuts: Oberla’s bright and airy “Sunlit” and Kohn’s “Cogs.” On the latter he drives a clipitty-clop beat. Baritone sax player Nick Ellman of Naughty Professor blasts “Getaway” off like a rocket leaving the planet.

Nabipoor’s “Beauty Marks” left me a bit mystified, but a little mystery is not necessarily a bad thing on an album with such wide-ranging, eclectic sounds.

Brass Lightning writes about their debut album: “Consonance pays homage to the many ghosts of the Crescent City, and to a vision of a brighter future for us all.” Well said and extremely well played.