Less is often more. I know, that’s not profound, but it’s still true, as John Rankin’s Last in April First in May demonstrates. The album is most intriguing and involving when his acoustic guitar is unaccompanied, whether on his witty take on the Meters’ “Cissy Strut,” the gypsy jazz of “Django Djangle” or the Scottish traditional “Lang a Growing.” The texture of his playing and the sound of his fingering on the strings—even the different touches with the fingers of his right hand as strikes, pulls or plucks notes—give the tracks character.

With a larger band, the results are mixed. “Klaus’s Dream” and “Cycle” are pleasantly attractive, but they pale next to rest of the album. More satisfying are “Danza Brasiliera” (featuring Clarence Johnson III on clarinet) and Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas,” where, again, guitar textures count. The latter is played on a National Radio-Tone Bendaway that almost sounds like a thumb piano, the fragile, broken-off notes underscoring the Caribbean in the composition. At every turn, the album shows Rankin’s musical intelligence and craft.