In what sounds almost like one continuous stream of musical thought, Chris Speed offers an album of unaccompanied solo clarinet brimming with warmth, expression, and technical proficiency. The title, Light Line, is apt: Speed’s tone and touch have a light quality, and his lines dart and dance fluidly across the instrument’s full range. Of the 15 individual pieces, six are by Speed—“Light Line,” “Cat Heaven,” “Sparkle Pants,” “Retrogression,” “Tassos,” and “Shields Up.” But his imperative is also to honor other composers, peers, and departed masters alike. With poise and originality, he ventures fresh interpretations of Eric Dolphy’s “Miss Ann,” Ornette Coleman’s “Enfant,” Julius Hemphill’s “Rites,” John Coltrane’s “Sun Ship,” Skúli Sverrisson’s “Drifting,” Andrew D’Angelo’s “Sphasos Triem,” and Hilmar Jensson’s “A Week From Now,” plus a parting meditation by the late Paul Motian. “La Rosita Arribeña,” in an intriguing departure, finds Speed fully assimilating the mariachi standard into his own improvisatory language.