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This album evokes pleasant memories of those halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s when a group of bop-influenced musicians would get together in Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio with no real program in mind other than to record an hour of challenging music. Ideas were scratched out on staff paper; maybe ensemble sections were written out, maybe not. Parts may or may not have be assigned and off they went. While each of the tunes had a separate theme, the idea was to state a melody and then improvise the devil out of it while feeding off each other's ideas. That happy scenario is recalled with John Alexander's CD, a session featuring the compositions of this very good reed player. He is joined by a rotating group of excellent jazz musicians where Alexander's work is the starting point for going wherever their musical intuition of the moment will lead them. As a result, there are a variety of jazz morsels offered to satisfy a variety of appetites. "Trina's Cheeks" has a lulling, boppish melody that finds all participants in a contemplative state of mind. There are good things here by Jon Thornton's trumpet and Ron Brendle's bass. In contrast, a much more disturbing "Lookin' up, Lookin' Out" has extemporization favoring dissonance over pure melody with Alexander's strong tenor leading the way. Creative improvised drumming by Al Sergel sparkles here. Contrast this with the wispy "Two Bits at Ten," where Alexander's flute floats over nervous undercurrents, again courtesy of Sergel and seconded by the piano of Bill Gerhardt. "Will I See You Again" could be the soundtrack for one of those bete noire films done in black and white. Creativity coupled with sound musicianship abounds on this recommended album.
© Dave Nathan /TiVo