The music on this groundbreaking recording is based on classic tunes from the Irish traditional music canon - but these pieces now form the nucleus for new compositions that examine many different possibilities presented by the traditional music, while at the same time allowing the improvising skills of the musicians to be brought to bear on the material in a creative and regenerative way. These pieces are NOT arrangements of Irish traditional music per se - this is new music composed around and inspired by the music of the Irish tradition. Rather than the usual procedure of this being a new look at Irish traditional music, it is a new look at contemporary jazz and composition practices as influenced by the song forms and practices of Irish traditional music.