Guitarist Steve Grismore and reedman Paul Scea have never lived in New York or even Boston or Chicago, but from their home bases in Iowa City and Morgantown West Virginia they have made a series of recordings that can hold their own with the best-played and freshest modern jazz anywhere. In this era, many great musicians build their careers around university teaching jobs, as Grismore (Augustana College, U. of Iowa) and Scea (West Virginia U.) have. Far away from the big cities, these two and their colleagues play every kind of gig imaginable, and this range of experience feeds their music. Combining the time-tested virtues of rhythmic drive and confident musicianship with a completely fearless approach to timbre and repertoire, the quintet s latest effort, Well Behaved Fish, features bassist Anthony Cox (w/Stan Getz, Robben Ford, Joe Lovano, Dewey Redman, John Scofield,), trumpeter Brett Sandy (w/Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Dick Oatts), and drummer Marc Gratama (w/Hall Crook, John Abercrombie, George Garzone). Among the most distinctive elements of the G/S s group sound are Grismore s bold use of guitar synth and Scea s masterful flute playing, which outlines the ensembles in a way that opens up the sound and adds beauty to even the most agitated moments. Trumpeter Sandy also employs occasional electonics, furthering the quest for new textures. Cox and Gratama make a rock solid and yet probingly interactive rhythm section on every kind of groove, from funk and rock of all tempos to freebop and a floating jazz waltz.