Pianist Mike Holober establishes a strong identity as a jazz composer of substance with Thought Trains by creating personal musical terrains that are mostly "through-composed," thus placing the works in a distrinct realm in which his soloists sublimate their improvisational ideas to his vision.

Clearly, Holober has encouraged his players to display their own sound colorations while playing the notes he has written. Although it puts improvisation on the back burner, one can say that Holober has merely found a way of expressing another creative sound world. He has done a grand job of blending his writing with the timbres of the individual players, taking pages along the way from the books of both Duke Ellington and George Russell. These eights works — seven of his own and his opening take on the traditional children's song "Jump Down, Spin Around" — basically were inspired by camping trips and a continuing love of trains from his childhood.

Outstanding moments include the contrasting tenor sax solos of Tim Ries and Charles Pillow on the charming yet adventurous "Heart Of The Matter," as well as trombonist Pat Halloran, soxophonists Jon Gordon and Ries, and trumpeter Scott Wendholt on the playfully powerful lead-off track. Pillow and Wendholt again distinguishing themselves on the wide-open, strutting "Big Sky."

— Will Smith
© DownBeat, February 2005