Ibrahim Maalouf was born in Beirut but has ranged widely, lending his trumpet to guitar-aided fusion, folk song arrangements, and classical strings. This album, honoring Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, features some of Maalouf’s hardest-hitting work. His playing, on a quarter-tone trumpet, does justice to the modes familiar to music from the Arab world, while the rhythmic dexterity of his band recalls classic hard swing. (The opening of “Overture II - Alf Leila Wa Leila” shows why drummer Clarence Penn is a leading light of contemporary post-bop.) The result is a lyrical and joyous cultural synthesis.