Belonging to a new generation of jazz artists that are slowly taking over the contemporary jazz world 30 year old trumpeter Corey Wilkes has successfully finished his up and coming stage which included graduating from Berklee, playing with the likes of Roscoe Mitchell, Wynton Marsalis, Steve Coleman and replacing the late Lester Bowie on the ranks of the immortal Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Contrary to his soulful, hip urban jazz debut Drop It, Corey and his Abstrakt Pulse’s Pi Recordings debut is more in bop influenced free jazz territory. Leaning on structure and melody a good deal, Cries from tha Ghetto is not as challenging as an album you’d come to expect from Pi, yet thanks to the 4 abstract interludes and the tracks like Sick JJ which showcase their versatility and take them out of the Marsalis territory into more contemporary forms. One to watch.