This is rather surprisingly the debut cd as a leader for the former John Mclaughin bassist.He is captured here live in the studio with turkish keyboard master Aydin Esen and an impressive young drummer Sean Rickman.The trio are also joined by Courtney Pine ( saxes )and Zakir Hussain ( tabla ) on two cuts.The music,which has an unusual production quality(a bit woolly in parts)ranges from fusion (Mamba Point) to beautiful ballads like "Queen of Cups; "The latter cut features some fantastic fretless playing.In fact the general standard of bass playing is up there with ANYONE you could care to mention.Kai's rather unique chordal slap playing is probably the highlight of the disc for me,( especially clever when you consider that he does it on a Modulus 5 string.)Overall the world jazz theme is maintained by the magnificent performances of the support musicians, who help to make a memorable recording.Honour simplicity, respect the flow , I certainly can.