Paris-based trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf's moody mix of jazz, groove and Lebanese traditional music comes across rather like a cut-up novel by William Burroughs or a collection of short stories by Paul Bowles, or at least a shot in that direction. Diasporas was Maalouf's debut album, and was originally released on his own Mi'ster Productions label in 2007. It's been followed by Diachronism (Mi'ster, 2009), which inhabits similar territory but spread over two discs. Diasporas, pithier and more rigorous, is the more enjoyable of the two albums and its release into the wider European marketplace is a welcome development.