First of all, Christian Artmann is a wonderful jazz flautist. … The haunting On a Sentimental Flute is a lovely ballad. It presumably references the Ellington standard In a Sentimental Mood. Other than a few seemingly similar short melodic passages, the similarity ends there. The bass and flute octave unison begins Steps Beyond. Weidenmueller on bass and Hirshfield on drums swing confidently as Christian Artmann weaves a solo full of cascading lines. Artmann’s lines flow, yet they are never predictable. The final cut Easy Dreams, although listed as “free” is very melodic and compositional. It is a testament to Artmann and his ensemble’s ability to play freely, without barriers. They can do this all while making the outcome very listenable – not something commonly found in free and especially avante-guard music.