Toronto may not be the first hometown that comes to mind when you think of award winning (two Junos and a Canadian Folk Music Award) banjo players, but Jayme Stone is much more than a player; he’s a true master of the instrument and innovative composer. “This music is about places,” Stone explains in the liner notes. And with imaginary journeys on the spice road, through Mali, and over mountain ranges, The Other Side Of The Air plays like a travelogue. There is a bright, breezy freedom to the pieces. After seven whirlwind musical adventures, Stone takes you to uptown with a three-movement concerto for banjo and chamber symphony, brimming with a variety of complementary styles and global influences, and then winds it down with a lazy down tempo “Tennessee Waltz.” The real genius is in how Stone expands the role of the banjo rather than the orchestra simply serving as a backing band for a lead banjo, and takes the music to places only Bela Fleck could imagine. Not a difficult listen at all, The Other Side Of The Air is both technically magnificent and beautifully accessible. (Independent, jaymestone.com) Broose Tulloch