Ken Watters has performed with some stellar names of the musical universe, including Frank Sinatra, Marc Anthony, Ramsey Lewis and Brian McKnight. Fronting his first recording with a quartet, he chose his backup musicians wisely—David Marlow on piano, Roy Yarbrough on upright bass and Jay Frederick on drums, all of whom have shared the stage with big-name stars themselves. Watters glows as he blows—on trumpet and (especially!) on the softer, more mellow-sounding flugelhorn. Only three of the CD’s eight tracks are originals but there are worthy covers of a number of jazz and non-jazz standards. “Stella By Starlight” and “We’ll Be Together Again” come in for extended six-and-a-half and seven-and-a-half minute treatments. The former features an outstanding piano solo by Marlow and some dexterous horn work by Watters whose sounds float through the air in smooth, evenly paced waves. There are nice, worthy, jazzed-up treatments of such non-traditional jazz numbers as the Allman Brothers’ “Jessica,” James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and the Joni Mitchell/Judy Collins classic, “Both Sides Now.” The two best cuts on the record both happen to be Watters originals—“April 3” and “Pathfinder”—and both feature Joel Frahm on tenor and alto saxes.