TITLE: The Search Within (Mack Avenue)

ARTIST: Sean Jones

STARS: 4 1/2 Out Of 5 Stars

SOUNDS LIKE: A hard-blowing young trumpeter with a style reminiscent of the late Freddie Hubbard.

Fan of Sean Jones’s all out, hard blowing style that’s reminiscent of the late Freddie Hubbard will be pleasantly surprised with the trumpeter’s fifth album, “The Search Within.”

A good portion of the 12 tunes here are exercises in understated lyrical balladry that showcase the fiery trumpeter’s reflective composer side.

Jones experiments with a subtler palette of sounds here than on his earlier recordings. That hard blowing windjammer style is still intact but now it’s placed along side some heady orchestration performed by a group of what Jones calls his “unsung heroes.” That includes pianist Orrin Evans, saxophonists Brian Hogans and Walter Smith, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire.

Special guests are, flautist Erika Von Kleist, Kahlil bell on percussion vocalist Carolyn Perteete and the always pleasantly surprising Gregoire Maret on harmonica.

“The Search Within” opens with a two minute prelude of title tune. Snatches of this lyrically introspective tune appears in the middle as an interlude and at the end of the CD as well.

Following this pensive opening is “Transitions, ” a fast swinging tune that features Jones’s signature hard blowing signature style.

From this high energy start, things slow down a bit with the Khalil Gibran inspired “The Ambitious Violet.” This beautifully written ballad is layered with subtlety of musical color.

Perhaps my favorite song on the CD is “Life Cycles” a lush samba sweetened by Gregoire Maret’s understated harmonica.

The shimmering “Summer’s Spring” showcases Hogan’s airy alto saxophone.

“This is a journey inside my soul that’s taken place over the past ten years,” said Jones about his latest recording from a press release. “It’s an assessment of where I am in the present as well as how I’ve learned from my mistakes and triumphs as a way of looking into the future. This album goes very deep for me. It’s a spiritual and sonic journey for me.”

It’s that same journey for the listener too.