Pianist Rodney Kendrick invokes the styles of both Thelonious Monk and Randy Weston on Last Chance for Common Sense by using fractured chords and percussive comping over a base of bristling African percussion. Kendrick is an assured soloist who plays comparatively few notes for maximum impact, typically using his left hand to pound out slightly dissonant clusters while his right hand picks out choppy melody lines. Cornetist and jazz outsider Graham Haynes, who has appeared on all three Kendrick records, shows he can play on the inside as his beautiful solo on “The Nac” proves. And the warm tones of Haynes’ flugelhorn imbues “Remember?” with a gently swinging melancholy. “Led Astray” features the odd lineup of Patience Higgins’ bass clarinet supported only by piano, bass, and tablas. Higgins does his first name proud with a restrained and dark-hued solo that dominants the tune. “Middle Passage” is played in real time, but it sounds as if Dewey Redman’s musette is being played over a backward tape loop, because the song’s circular rhythmic pattern ebbs and flows in a hypnotic lunge from quiet to loud. The heartbeat percussion that marks all of Kendrick’s records is especially radiant on “Sun Ray,” in which Badal Roy’s tablas and Daniel Moreno’s percussion spread a pulsing foundation for Kendrick and company to build upon. Common Sense prevails.

—Christopher Porter