After many years in Chicago, saxophonist Josh Quinlan moved to Colorado to work on his doctorate of music arts in jazz studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. While here, in addition to teaching at Denver School of the Arts, he's also taken over the helm of Dazzle Recordings. It's no surprise that someone so immersed in jazz would deliver a stellar collection of originals, and Quinlan has done just that on Mountain Time Standards (the title reflects his time living in Colorado). Quinlan and company come out swinging fierce on opener "Sus It Out," with the saxman weaving masterfully around changes with a rich tone that at times recalls Charles Lloyd and Wayne Shorter. "Sus It Out" and "Left Then Right" are the only up-tempo cuts on the disc; the rest are essentially ballads, which makes sense, as Quinlan's stunning tone, both on tenor and alto, works quite well on the slower songs, especially "Jumar's Song" and "Anything and Everything."