McCaslin returns with a new album, Blow., a new definitive statement that fully realizes Bowie's influence and McCaslin’s evolved artistic direction. Despite McCaslin's extensive, acclaimed career — he grew up gigging with his father's jazz ensembles, and began his recording career in the late '90s — collaborating with Bowie altered how he approached his craft. Naturally, McCaslin's horn unites Blow.'s disparate elements, though not in the way one might expect. McCaslin remembers how Bowie urged him to manipulate his instrument's sound, to create "different loops and textures" while improvising. McCaslin emphasizes Blow.'s "wide range of moods," and some of them — like the driving, 10-minute instrumental "Break the Bond" or the chaotic and appropriately titled "Exactlyfourminutesofimprovisedmusic" — will sound familiar to longtime McCaslin fans. Along with his bandmates, he's propelling his music to places that seemed unreachable — to the extent that he'd even conceived of them —just a few years ago.