La Nevada - Gil Evans

A common misperception is that Elvin Jones is the drummer on this legendary recording. Gil provides the appropriate correction in the following:

"Six steady weeks, six days a week. We knew that music. The way we played "La Nevada" was different than we had ever played it before, but we always played it differently. The only change from that record was Elvin. Charlie Persip was the drummer and Elvin came in and just played shakers for the whole fifteen minutes. It's all he did and he just kept it together, letting Charlie spill over all he wanted. The form—we didn't plan it. I think I just gave the order of the solos."

The giveaway is that there are none of the famous Elvin Jones triplets played between the snare drum and the ride cymbal.

The solos are by Johnny Coles on trumpet, Tony Studd on bass trombone, Budd Johnson, tenor sax, Ron Carter, bass, and Ray Crawford on guitar.

The Fabulous Gerry Mulligan Sextet [Fresh Sound CD 418-419] - Alun Morgan

© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Born in Wales in 1928, the esteemed British author and critic Alun Morgan [d. 2018] became a Jazz fan as a teenager and was an early devotee of the bebop movement. In the 1950s he began contributing articles to Melody Maker, Jazz Journal, Jazz Monthly, and Gramophone and for twenty years, beginning in 1969, he wrote a regular column for a local newspaper in Kent. From 1954 onward he contributed to BBC programs on Jazz, authored and co-authored books on modern Jazz and Jazz in England and wrote over 2,500 liner notes for Jazz recordings.

Alun was a gentle and genteel person with many significant achievements as a Jazz writer and critic during his long career.  His writing style is succinct, accurate and easy to read and understand. Held in the highest regard by the British Jazz community, it’s an honor to have the writings of Alun Morgan featured once again on these pages.

Our thanks to Jordi Pujol, the owner-operator of Fresh Sound Records for the preview copy of The Fabulous Gerry Mulligan Sextet [Fresh Sound CD 418-419].  Founded in 1983 in Barcelona, Spain, the Fresh Sound catalogue has an exceptional selection of recordings from the Golden Age of Modern Jazz and you can visit the collection on offer by going here.

“The well-known author, lecturer and historian Bob Reisner began holding Sunday jam sessions at the Open Door in New York's Greenwich Village (at West Third Street and Washington Square South) on April 26, 1953. It soon became a focal point for jazz; Charlie Parker was a frequent visitor and participant. It was also a place where young, up-and-coming soloists could perform, one of whom was trumpeter Jon Eardley from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Years later Jon told Pat Sullivan in a Jazz Monthly magazine interview that "one night there were three trumpeters on the stand: Tony Fruscella, Don Joseph and me. Gerry Mulligan and his wife were in the audience. When we'd finished Gerry's wife, Arlyne, came over and asked me, 'how many white shirts do you have?' It was a way of inviting me to join the band. The following Friday, Gerry gave me about 16 LPs and a record player and I had to learn the lot by Monday when we opened in Baltimore." All this took place in the autumn of 1954 and Eardley was to work with the Mulligan Quartet and the later Sextet for nearly two years... with a few breaks in-between.

The formation of the Sextet came about originally as a one-off concert staged at Hoover High School in San Diego shortly before Christmas 1954. During October and November of that year, the Stan Getz Quintet plus the quartets of Mulligan and Dave Brubeck were part of a Norman Granz package titled Modern Jazz Concert, headed by Duke Ellington and his orchestra. The concert personnel appeared at fifteen locations across the United States, from Carnegie Hall in New York to the closing appearance at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Mulligan's quartet was completed by Jon Eardley, bass player Red Mitchell and drummer Frank Isola. The Getz Quintet contained valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, who had worked with Gerry in the early months of 1954. Although Getz returned to the east coast after the Modern Jazz Concert tour ended, Brookmeyer remained in Los Angeles and was available for the San Diego school musical event. It was an opportunity for Mulligan to write for, and play in, a six-piece band rather than the quartet lineups which had been his main force since August 1952 when he launched the foursome with Chet Baker. In some ways, the famous west coast Mulligan Quartet was something of a setback in his career. Although highly rewarding in terms of finances and personal publicity, it was not the direction Gerry wanted to take. Left to his own devices, he would have preferred to write for—and lead—a big band.

In Chet Baker he had an ideal frontline partner who had an intuitive grasp of what was required and could produce just the right musical lines which interlocked with, or complemented, those produced by Gerry. The original quartet was disbanded in June 1953 when Mulligan was found guilty of narcotics possession and given a custodial sentence. Released on Christmas Eve 1953, his immediate aim was to reform the quartet with Chet Baker, if only to give himself some breathing space and an income. But while Gerry had been serving his six months at the Peter Pitchess Honor Farm in Saugus (thirty miles north of Los Angeles), Baker had formed a quartet with pianist Russ Freeman which was a musical and financial success. Actually, they had recorded in April — two months before Gerry left the scene. The May 6 Down Beat carried a review of "The Lamp Is Low" and "Maid in Mexico." This session at Gold Star Studio is listed in all discographies as late July. The discrepancy can probably be traced to Dick Bock, who wasn't the most organized man when it came to hard facts about his sessions. When the two men met after Mulligan's release, Chet demanded a weekly salary of four hundred dollars to rejoin a reformed quartet. Gerry terminated the discussion at this point.

The baritone saxist then telephoned Bob Brookmeyer in New York, asking him to fly out to Los Angeles with "a New York rhythm section." Bob arrived with bass player Bill Anthony and drummer Frank Isola, two men who had worked with Brookmeyer in the Stan Getz Quartet. Mulligan reformed the Tentette he had employed for recording purposes a year earlier and played one concert with the group at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles. A few weeks later he flew back to New York. He then replaced Anthony with Red Mitchell and this was the quartet which remained in being until Gerry fulfilled his contract to play at the Third Salon du Jazz in Paris at the beginning of June 1954. However, the idea of a larger group was never very far from Gerry's thoughts. He must have looked back with pleasure on that evening in San Diego when he played alongside not only Jon Eardley, Bob Brookmeyer, Red Mitchell and Larry Bunker, but the sixth member of the group: the constantly-swinging Zoot Sims. At that time, Zoot was resident in Los Angeles, having left the Stan Kenton band in November 1953. Amazingly, this outstanding musician had difficulty in finding regular musical work and was forced to take any available employment. Ed Michel, an ex-bass player who lived in California during the early Fifties and later worked in the record industry, once told me Zoot was so frustrated at this time he was prepared to sit-in with any kind of band just to play. "I've seen him playing with a Latin-American band, his knuckles covered with green paint because he'd been painting fences that day in order to make some money."

The San Diego concert remains a highlight in the Mulligan discography. It was recorded direct to two-track by sound engineer Phil Turetsky, who had recorded the very first Mulligan-Baker Quartet recordings. "Bernie's Tune" and "Lullaby of the Leaves" were done on an Ampex tape recorder in August 1952 in his bungalow on Wonderland Park Avenue off Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the Hollywood hills. The transfers heard here present the best sound yet achieved and preserve the immediacy of the live recording. The Hoover High School concert commenced with five tunes played by a quartet (Mulligan, Eardley, Red Mitchell and Chico Hamilton) which have not been included here as this album concentrates on the Sextet's music.

The complete Sextet is heard on the following numbers: "Western Reunion," "I Know, Don't Know How" and the "Ellington Medley" which includes "Flamingo" on which Bob Brookmeyer switches to piano. There is an atmosphere of pure musical joy here, particularly on the saxophone duet of "The Red Door." Mulligan shows that the baritone saxophone need not be a cumbersome instrument as he treats "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" with loving care. I think we can assume that Gerry wrote "Western Reunion" specifically for the San Diego concert, and as a tribute to the meeting of Gerry and his old-time friend Zoot... probably a play on the telegraph company Western Union. If "I Know, Don't Know How" sounds familiar it is because Mulligan has done a little recycling. For the eight bar A section of this A-A-B-A construction tune, Gerry has used the middle-eight of his earlier composition "Line for Lyons." Perhaps the most stunning track is "I'll Remember April" which features Zoot Sims at his very best, superbly backed by a brilliant rhythm section with Larry Bunker   proving that exciting and driving drumming need not necessarily be loud. Brookmeyer again plays piano and it should be pointed out his keyboard work is not simply a useful "double" on occasions. Bob once worked as a full-time pianist with the band of Tex Beneke, and in 1959 he and Bill Evans made a brilliant two-piano album (The Ivory Hunters) together. Brookmeyer had taken the place of Chet Baker in Gerry's new quartet at the beginning of 1954; he was never happy with the arrangement although he pointed out to author Gordon Jack in his Fifties Jazz Talk: An Oral Retrospective (Scarecrow Press, 2004), "this was the official start of Gerry as a well-dressed, successful bandleader.

When he first arrived in California, he just wanted to play and write, but when he went on the road with the quartet he became a bandleader." Bob's problems with the Mulligan Quartet were musical ones. "I knew how good the group had sounded with Chet Baker, and I thought it really needed a trumpet, not a trombone. In other words, somebody higher up because Gerry and I were so close in sound."

Things came to a head at the Paris Salon du Jazz (also known as the Salle Pleyel Concert) at the beginning of June 1954. Even to we outside observers, it was sometimes obvious that Bob and Gerry were frequently at musical loggerheads and it was no surprise to learn Brookmeyer had given his notice and left the quartet after the Salon du Jazz. He returned to the United States, recorded an album for Dick Bock's Pacific Jazz label in Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio with pianist John Williams and his ex-Mulligan colleagues. Red Mitchell and Frank Isola, then flew west to work (briefly) at The Haig club in a band he formed with Zoot Sims. As for Gerry, he continued with the quartet which now had trumpeter Jon Eardley as a replacement for Brookmeyer. Jon never tried to sound like Chet Baker; his tone was hotter and he could dig back into the Swing Era for ideas when the music called for it.

This quartet lasted until the end of 1954. Pacific Jazz taped the unit at two concerts, the first at Stockton High School; then a month later came the San Diego appearance by the group plus Brookmeyer and Sims. After that, Gerry disbanded and returned to New York to write some new music. The first half of 1955 found him appearing on the Steve Allen Show and various other gigs, often accompanied by Jon Eardley. In July 1955 he played at the Newport Jazz Festival where he appeared as a guest with both the Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck quartets as well playing with a pick-up group containing Miles Davis, Zoot Sims and Thelonius Monk. By August of that year he was ready to form his new sextet and had secured a contract with EmArcy, the newly formed jazz subsidiary of Mercury Records, headed by Bob Shad and Jack Tracy.

After a series of rehearsals, Gerry's sextet went on tour, opening at Cleveland's Loop Lounge on August 29. then proceeded with a one-week engagement at Boston's Storyville that lasted until September 18. Then, back to New York to record the September 21-22 sessions, and after a successful engagement at Basin Street, the group continued on the road, hitting the East and Midwest circuit, stopping only to record the October 31 session. The tour ended after a week at the Rouge, a night club in River Rouge, Michigan, on December 11.

The majority of the music on the enclosed Compact Discs comes from this most productive period and is played by one of the finest small groups ever to be formed and led by Mulligan. It benefited from its exemplary personnel (which remained virtually the same throughout the eighteen months of it’s existence), Gerry's impeccable leadership plus his understanding as composer and arranger. It gave him the sound palette he needed with a range from the top notes on the trumpet plunging more than three octaves to the lowest notes on baritone and valve trombone. Of equal importance was how the skillful writing often made the band sound bigger than it really was. Mulligan told Ira Gitler, "with the four horns we did a lot of clubs, a lot of concerts. It was a nice, hot band for playing theaters. We'd start with the four horns grouped around the microphone and by the time we were into the show we'd be all the way across the stage. I'd be at one end, then Bobby and Zoot, and the trumpet just spread all the way across. Really a ball."

The albums Jack Tracy supervised for EmArcy made use of some pre-existing pieces rearranged for the Sextet such as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Bernie's Tune," and "Makin’ Whoopee" as well as material recently written by Mulligan for the new group. The impact of his music on both audiences and record buyers was the same, and in 1957 Ralph J. Gleason, reviewing the Sextet's first album for Down Beat magazine, awarded it the maximum of five stars. He drew attention to "the times, usually as an interlude towards the end of a number, when (Gerry) is able to direct the horns into a boiling and bubbling stew which can raise me right off the floor. I have heard no one else but Dizzy Gillespie do this particular thing successfully." Mulligan could take full credit for such matters. As Zoot Sims told Ira Gitler, "Mulligan doesn't do anything unless it's set, rehearsed. You know, it's all that playing together. Gerry's very well organized. He won't go on the road or in a club until it's set. That's the way I like it." Gleason continued his review. "As further evidence of his structural proficiency, his second chorus on piano in 'Blues' seems to be an almost classic example of construction, moving, as it does, from simplicity to full complexity without once losing definition. You will not want to miss this LP."

In later years, Bob Brookmeyer stated that the Sextet was Gerry's favorite group, even more satisfying than the quartet with Chet Baker or the various editions of his magnificent Concert Jazz Band. This six piece band comprised the most suitable group of players and had rare flexibility enabling it to tackle music from a range of eras and sources. For example, the highly successful "Ain't It the Truth" is Mulligan's interpretation of a number dating back to July 1942 when composed and arranged by Laverne "Buster" Harding for the Count Basie orchestra. It turned out to be the Count's last official recording session for twenty-nine months. (The AFM imposed a record ban which came into effect four days after "Ain't It the Truth" and six other titles were recorded.)

At the other end of the scale Mulligan's Sextet used pieces seldom played by jazz units. A prime example is "La plus que lente" first recorded by the Sextet in October 1955; and again the following September with trumpeter Don Ferrara replacing Jon Eardley. (This later recording was the only occasion Ferrara worked with the group.) The title translates as "Slower than Slow" and is based on something Gil Evans transcribed from music written by the French Impressionist composer Claude Debussy. It is largely an ensemble piece, beautifully played by the Sextet which maintains the almost ethereal mood of the music. It bears out the assertion of critic and musicologist Max Harrison in 1959 that "the real nature of (Mulligan's) subsequent achievement was hinted at early in his career by his facility in arranging and his concern with unity. In addition to the personal expression of his solos, what Mulligan has given jazz is a fresh ensemble style. Whereas men like Armstrong and Parker, in forging a new mode of solo utterance, give us primarily themselves. Mulligan like Gil Evans has given his fellow musicians a new way of thinking about playing together, a new approach to the jazz ensemble" (from These Jazzmen of Our Time, Victor Gollancz, 1959).

The Sextet was a success wherever it played in the United States; then in the spring of 1956, the six musicians embarked for Europe aboard the Italian passenger liner Andrea Doria to play dates in France, Germany, Italy, et al. While in Paris, Gerry bought a soprano sax and Zoot an alto at the Selmer factory.

On some dates they came across Chet Baker, who was also touring Europe at the time and there is at least one recorded German transcription (from Landstuhl) of Baker sitting in with the Sextet. When the band returned to the United States, Jon Eardley left and the last studio records by the group in September had Don Ferrara on his only appearance with the Sextet. The final date was at the Preview Lounge in Chicago by which time Oliver Beener had the trumpet role. Zoot Sims left to freelance in New York before teaming up with Al Cohn while Mulligan reverted to the quartet format, partnered by Bob Brookmeyer.

Although the life of the Mulligan Sextet was comparatively short, it was a most important phase in Gerry's musical development. In April 1957, he was commissioned by Columbia Records to assemble a big band and provide original arrangements for a recording session. For some reason, most products of the session were not released for twenty years by which time Mulligan's own Concert Jazz Band had performed widely in both the United States and Europe. In almost every manifestation of the CJB, the triumvirate of Mulligan, Brookmeyer and Sims was present indicating the importance of the personnel chosen for the Sextet.

Of paramount importance to the Sextet was that original concert held at San Diego's Hoover High School. More than half a century after the event. Bob Brookmeyer confirmed that rehearsals indeed did take place in Los Angeles before the group traveled the one hundred and twenty-five miles south for the event. And he recalled that the poster in front of the auditorium simply stated, "Gerry Mulligan and His Band," giving no mention of precisely what the audience might expect to see and hear that evening. After the opening numbers by the quartet, the appearance of Bob and Zoot for the remainder of the concert was a well-orchestrated surprise. As may be heard here, the music was a revelation and is now enhanced by improvements made in the remastering for this Fresh Sound release. It can be said that this collection is a fitting tribute to the undoubted genius that was Gerald Joseph Mulligan.”

— Alun Morgan May 2006

Get Happy - Stan Getz Quartet

Stan is in the tradition of the players. He has not contributed a body of music—either written or unit-deep—as have John Lewis, on the one hand, and Gerry Mulligan, on the other.

He has contributed a style and can nearly always be depended on to stimulate a listener’s imagination (…) with a demonstration that the art of improvisation still flares and challenges and excites.”

- Nat Hentoff, Jazz author and critic

Reeds and Deeds - Third Time's The Charm [From the Archives with Revisions]

 © -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

"We have similar concepts," he says, "but at the same time they're different.  Eric has all the things that I lack; and I might have something that isn't in his playing, and that complements his playing. And for that reason it's not really a cutting session.  It's almost like apples and oranges, which is nice because a lot of times cats end up playing so similar."

"We have a lot of similar influences," Grant offers. "Eric has more of a certain period of Trane in his playing, and a heavy George Coleman influence. I have a heavy Sonny Rollins influence. But we were both influenced by Dexter and Stitt and Bird." Alexander concurs and adds more wrinkles: "We are both coming out of the bebop language, but Grant from the Hawkins/Rollins side and I'm more from the Young/Gordon/ Coltrane side. Grant is more likely to make use of quotes and motivic development and I'm more likely to play some things that one would associate with modal and free jazz."

"I think our styles are so different that it's not as much of a cutting session as it could be," explains Stewart. "Eric definitely raises the bar pretty high and we're definitely trying to push one another to play better. We're coming out of some of the same people more or less, but we think differently. [Still,] there are enough similarities that we get a cohesive sound, but we're different enough that it's still interesting." As for Alexander, while the camaraderie is an obvious factor in making this kind of situation musically stimulating, he also admits to some healthy rivalry. "When you're going head to head," Eric affirms, "you've really got to jump all over the tunes or else you sound like you're getting blown away by the other cat."

Would you be surprised to learn that the title of this piece has three meanings?

The first and most obvious is that to date, the Reeds and Deeds quintet that tenor saxophonists Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart formed in 2004 has made three recordings, all for the Criss Cross label.

The second is that it was in the third CD that I found the key description to distinguish what was different about the styles of each player to differentiate them beyond the two tenor pairings that date back to Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray who were followed by Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Johnny Griffin, and in England with Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes.

What I was hearing in Eric and Grant’s performance on the Reeds and Deeds CDs were the influences of the two major tenor saxophone stylists of the second half of the 20th century - Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane - but I didn’t know how to differentiate them until I came across this description in the insert notes to Tenor Time, their third CD:

"We have a lot of similar influences," Grant offers. "Eric has more of a certain period of Trane in his playing, and a heavy George Coleman influence. I have a heavy Sonny Rollins influence. But we were both influenced by Dexter and Stitt and Bird." Alexander concurs and adds more wrinkles: "We are both coming out of the bebop language, but Grant from the Hawkins/Rollins side and I'm more from the Young/Gordon/ Coltrane side. Grant is more likely to make use of quotes and motivic development and I'm more likely to play some things that one would associate with modal and free jazz."

And the third “three meaning” implied in the title of this posting, besides the two principals, pianist David Hazeltine is a constant “secret source” on all three recordings despite the bass and drums changes from Peter and Kenny Washington on the first CD - Wailin’ - to John Webber and Joe Farnsworth on the second and third CDs - Cookin’ and Tenor Time - respectively.

If you like your Jazz in the straight-ahead mode with cleverly constructed arrangements of Jazz Standards and tunes from The Great American Songbook, brilliantly developed tenor sax improvisations, underscored by a pianist who accompanies with sensitivity while suggested interesting harmonic alternatives, all of which is propelled by two ever-swinging rhythm sections, then I urge you to give these recordings by Reeds and Deeds a listen.

Some of the other reasons why you might enjoy these recording are suggested in the insert notes to each of them authored by very knowledgeable Jazz writers so I’ve included them in their entirety to further make my case.

Incidentally, the group takes its name from a 1963 Rahsaan Roland Kirk recording for Mercury Records.

And lastly, was is singularly impressive about the work of Reeds and Deeds is on these recordings is well-stated in the following excerpt from C. Andrew Hovan’s notes to Cookin’, the group’s second recording for Criss Cross:

Although the program here does not include any originals, Alexander and Stewart have managed to dig deep for an agreeable selection that includes bossa nova, quicksilver bebop, the blues lexicon, and a ballad feature for both tenor men. Each number goes for a particular feel and utilizes the two horns in a way that most complements the melody. The pair approaches unison passages with an especially well-developed precision, the technical proficiency needed to accomplish such a feat not to be taken for granted. Like the ideal club set, much thought has been given to the pacing and flow of each track with plenty of blowing space for Stewart, Alexander, and Hazeltine to boot.

Wailin' [Criss Cross 1258] David A. Orthmann allaboutjazz.com

“The Criss Cross Jazz imprint has earned an enviable reputation for producing a substantial body of recorded music by a cadre of gifted youthful players.  Producer Gerry Teekens resides thousands of miles from the music's ferment in the New York City area, yet he stays in the loop and seldom misses the chance to record new and novel configurations of his longtime charges.

Moreover, despite the fact that the label generally stays inside the stylistic parameters of the modern jazz mainstream, there's nothing staid or predictable about the steady stream of Criss Cross releases.

Teekens shuns marketable formulas (like trendy theme records, or superficial tributes to venerable figures in the jazz pantheon) in favor of catching these vital musicians doing what they do best in the here and now. The label's artists share a willingness to explore the jazz tradition, as well as an insistence on establishing their own identities.

A case in point is Wailin' by Reeds and Deeds, a new quintet co-led by tenor saxophonists Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart. A rising international star who frequently tours with his band throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, Alexander has appeared on dozens of Criss Cross sessions, as a leader and sideman, as well as in the cooperative sextet One For All.

Stewart is a fixture in New York City clubs like Fat Cat and Kavahaz, and regularly plays in Europe and Japan.  He made his debut recording, Downtown Sounds, for the label in the early-1990s at the age of twenty-one, and followed a few years later with More Urban Tones.

Not unlike many successful Criss Cross releases, the impetus for Wailin' came from the musicians' live performances.  Last year Alexander and Stewart played an engagement in Philadelphia at Chris’ Jazz Cafe. Trumpeter John Swana a Criss Cross artist and mutual friend "came down and sat in, and it was a lot of fun," Stewart recalls.  "It was a real free, blowing gig." One of Alexander's students made a bootleg and gave it to Swana, who liked it so much he promptly sent it to Teekens. After receiving the tape, Teekens (who had already heard about the gig) proposed a two-tenor recording.

Pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Kenny Washington (no relation), make up an ideal rhythm section.  Rapidly moving into the elite of New York City jazz circles, Hazeltine is equally valued as a composer, arranger, and accompanist. Aside from the five sessions he's led for the label, Hazeltine's talents have graced numerous other Criss Cross sides, such as Alexander's Two Of A Kind, and [the sextet] One For All's five releases, including the recent Blueslike, named after one of his compositions.

Peter and Kenny Washington are the premier bass and drums team in jazz.  Able to handle all manner of grooves and change direction on a moment's notice, they're best known for playing in the trio of pianist Bill Charlap. Together and separately Peter and Kenny have worked on scores of Criss Cross dates. In particular, they lit a fire under Alexander's seminal New York Calling, and were essential to the success of Stewart's Downtown Sounds.

Because of the players' familiarity and mutual respect for one another, Wailin' impresses the listener as a recording of a real band with a two-tenor front line, rather than a series of jousts between two hard-blowing, egotistical players. One reason for this temperance, Stewart suggests, is the differences between his and Alexander's approach to the instrument. "We have similar concepts," he says, "but at the same time they're different.  Eric has all the things that I lack; and I might have something that isn't in his playing, and that complements his playing. And for that reason it's not really a cutting session. It's almost like apples and oranges, which is nice because a lot of times cats end up playing so similar."

Busy and conflicting schedules prevented extensive preparation for the date. After Alexander and Stewart made decisions regarding the material, rehearsals consisted of a single session with Stewart and the rhythm section while Alexander was out of town, and a hour-long run through of the tunes by the two horns on the day before the recording, during which they came up with ideas for arrangements. Despite the limited practice, the band sounds tight and focused. In particular, the blend of Alexander and Stewart's saxophones is smooth on the medium tempo tracks, and they handle a couple of jagged, up-tempo heads as if having played the lines together for years.

Somewhere In The Night is a Billy May composition, which served as the theme for the classic 1960s television show, Naked City.  Stewart and Alexander agreed to do this one after it fortuitously "just kind of popped out" of a folder of lead sheets. Kenny Washington's brushes keep things moving beneath the horns' rendering of May's elegant melody, and he switches to sticks for solos by Alexander, Stewart, and Hazeltine. Alexander displays his trademark long spiraling phrases and alterations in timbre, while Stewart stays closer to the ground, at times pausing to reflect on portions of May's song.

Dedicated to [guitarist] Pat Martino, Alexander's up-tempo Stand Pat originally appeared several years ago on his recording for Milestone that featured the venerable guitarist. While Peter Washington locks in a steady pulse, Hazeltine, Stewart, and Alexander each take four choruses. Stewart is particularly memorable as he roars through 16 bars while the rhythm section goes out of tempo.  Before the whole band returns, Kenny Washington sounds positively punchy in a series of eight bar exchanges with the horns.

Big RC is a swaggering blues from the pen of Eric Alexander. Riding Hazeltine's penetrating support, the composer's 6 choruses have an epic feel as he weaves together sounds ranging from whispers to thickset banshee wails.  After Hazeltine and Stewart take their turns, Peter Washington enters for one of his two solos on the recording, an introverted meander that's in sharp contrast to everything that went before.

Mel Torme and Robert Wells' Born To Be Blue is Stewart's ballad feature. "When I was a kid, my father wrote out a fake book of all the great standards," Stewart explains. "And that was one of the tunes we used to go through as part of my practice routine." Regarding his approach to ballads, Stewart says "my thing is to try to sing it like a song and make the melody a showcase for my sound. The improvising is more for the solo, and I try to always keep the melody in mind."

Stewart and Alexander employed a standard arrangement of That's Earl, Brother, Dizzy Gillespie's beguiling bebop tune from the mid-1940s. The two saxophonists and Hazeltine find the changes and the medium tempo to their liking, each taking two choruses.  Inspired by Hazeltine's knowing accompaniment and Kenny Washington's pithy accents, Stewart's ideas travel far and wide, ranging from song-like phrases, to brief declarations, to expansive, rapid fire lines. The horns trade fours with Kenny Washington before the band takes the theme out.

Taken at a punishing pace reminiscent of John Coltrane's version on his near-classic Soultrane recording, the band's rendition of Irving Berlin's Russian Lullaby is the closest thing to a tenor battle on the disc. The co-leaders collectively came up with the arrangement, "including this little tag thing we did at the end," Stewart says. Though they did a few takes in order to get one in which "we were both relatively happy with our solos at that tempo," slowing down the pace was out of the question. "We like to drive fast."

Alexander's ballad interpretation breathes new life into Johnny Mandel and Paul F. Webster's warhorse, The Shadow Of Your Smile.  His short rubato introduction is somewhat isolated from the song. The rhythm section joins in for Alexander's lovely, reflective version of the melody. The improvisation that follows is of a somewhat different character, buzzing with activity and

containing digressions galore, yet he never completely strays from the song's melancholy disposition.

Stewart originally wrote Scotch Thing for a recording made in 1998, in which he was the sole horn.  Having conceived of the piece for two horns, Stewart decided to revisit the tune. "I always write stuff that's not really conducive to improvising," he says. "It's kind of a long form. I like the way it sounds but when you get to the blowing it's tricky to play on." Despite his reservations, both Stewart and Alexander negotiate the changes with ease and have something substantial to say throughout their solos.

Reeds and Deeds has succeeded in making a recording that's greater than the sum of the individual contributions. Taking into consideration various other studio projects and live performances over the past few years, as well as Wailin', I believe the best is yet to come.  It's clear that each of these artists thrives on challenging themselves and their audiences. For Alexander, Stewart, Hazeltine, Peter and Kenny Washington, playing jazz in the company of musicians of the same stature is much more than a means of making a living—it's a way of life.”

Cookin' [Chris Cross 1283] C. Andrew Hovan, All About Jazz, The Jazz Review, Downbeat,  August 2006

“Chances are that if you're reading these notes right now you're more than a bit familiar with the talents of tenor saxophonists Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart and might even have picked up Wailin' (Criss 1258), their first effort together leading a quintet billed as Reeds and Deeds. As such, it would probably be redundant to go into detailed biographical sketches of each of these men. Suffice it to say that Alexander just might be one of the most recorded jazz musicians of his generation, appearing on an impressive number of albums since making his debut on Criss Cross back in 1993, regularly leading his own groups, and remaining a vital member of the hard bop collective One For All. Stewart, who also recorded his maiden voyage for Criss Cross, may not be as thoroughly documented on recordings but remains an in demand performer in New York City and a regular at Fat Cat and Smalls.

So with the credentials of our two leading men well defined, it might be interesting to ponder the lineage of the quintet's moniker and the titles of their two discs. For starters, Reeds and Deeds also names a 1963 album on Mercury Records by multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk, a recording that just so happens to feature pianist Harold Mabern, a regular collaborator in groups led by Alexander. Now, with album titles like Wailin' and Cookin' there's more than a tip of the hat to those classic 1956 recordings by the Miles Davis Quintet that led to a series of Prestige releases, namely Workin', Steamin', Cookin', and Relaxin'. Finally, one must consider that this pair follows in the footsteps of other iconic two tenor cohorts such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons or Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin.

Now while this modest lesson suggests that these guys have done their homework, it should not be considered a foregone conclusion that the group is simply rehashing previous glories or engaging in the kind of cutting contests that were so popular in the '50s. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as Alexander and Stewart have fashioned a collaborative ensemble that benefits strongly from the combined efforts and varied experiences of our front line partners.

"I think our styles are so different that it's not as much of a cutting session as it could be," explains Stewart. "Eric definitely raises the bar pretty high and we're definitely trying to push one another to play better. We're coming out of some of the same people more or less, but we think differently. [Still,] there are enough similarities that we get a cohesive sound, but we're different enough that it's still interesting." As for Alexander, while the camaraderie is an obvious factor in making this kind of situation musically stimulating, he also admits to some healthy rivalry. "When you're going head to head," Eric affirms, "you've really got to jump all over the tunes or else you sound like you're getting blown away by the other cat."

Returning from the group's first effort is pianist David Hazeltine, a veteran of many Criss Cross dates and leader of a half dozen sessions of his own for the label including the recent Perambulation (Criss 1276). "He's a great accompanist and he's always listening," says Stewart. "It's one of those things where you know someone is a great accompanist when you play better when they're comping." Further commenting on Hazeltine's many talents, Alexander interjects, "He's a fine composer and arranger and he brings that kind of structure to every musical situation."

Another lock tight rhythm team steps up to spell Peter and Kenny Washington, who performed the bass and drum duties on Wailin'. Regular collaborators John Webber and Joe Farnsworth have worked with Harold Mabern, Jimmy Cobb, and Michael Weiss, in addition to teaming together with Alexander on numerous gigs and record dates such as Summit Meeting and Dead Center. Their hookup can also be heard to great advantage on Farnsworth's A Beautiful Friendship (Criss 1166). Speaking of Webber, Stewart says, "He's one of my favorite bass players [because] he gets such a beautiful sound out of the bass and he's also an incredible soloist." As for Joe, he states unequivocally, "I don't think there's anyone out there who can play some of the stuff that he plays. He's just a real force on the drums." To which Eric adds, "He's my favorite drummer to play with and we've known each other for so long that everything we do is really second nature at this point."

Although the program here does not include any originals, Alexander and Stewart have managed to dig deep for an agreeable selection that includes bossa nova, quicksilver bebop, the blues lexicon, and a ballad feature for both tenor men. Each number goes for a particular feel and utilizes the two horns in a way that most complements the melody. The pair approaches unison passages with an especially well-developed precision, the technical proficiency needed to accomplish such a feat not to be taken for granted. Like the ideal club set, much thought has been given to the pacing and flow of each track with plenty of blowing space for Stewart, Alexander, and Hazeltine to boot.

Not as well known as his other signature numbers, "Conception"and "Lullaby of Broadway," George Shearing's She is seldom performed these days but is destined to be picked up now that Stewart and Alexander have revisited this beguiling composition. "I discovered that tune one night after a gig at Fat Cat," explains Stewart. "Pianist Sacha Perry showed it to me and Joe Cohn and then the following week he and I started playing it at our steady Tuesday night gig at Smalls." The piece boasts the standard AABA form of eight bars each section, with a contrasting Latin groove that distinguishes the bridge. Grant is the first soloist and for terms of identification can be heard on the left channel throughout the date. Eric is up next, followed by a brief turn from Hazeltine.

Tight unison passages and a brisk tempo help make So in Love a lesson in survival of the fittest. Grant is up first again, cleverly utilizing the tune's melody as a springboard for his mercurial statement. Eric then comes on strong, eating up the changes and utilizing the full range of his horn in a

way that has always set him apart from his peers.

"I've always wanted to record this beautiful tune," says Alexander of Never Let Me Go. While he sticks to the ballad tempo at first, his ideas start flowing in such a way that in order to allow them unfettered development he jumps into double time for much of his solo statement. Hazeltine then gets a turn before Eric's return, a closing gambit that further illuminates the saxophonist's considerable maturity and confidence.

Several years before the smooth tenor of Stan Getz met the cool strains of bossa nova or Walter Wanderley hit the charts with "Summer Samba," there was the film Black Orpheus, loosely based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. Putting Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa on the musical map, the songs they penned for the soundtrack still provide fodder for jazz musicians today. Alexander supplies a fresh arrangement that "filled the need for a Latin number" while providing for "a nice variety of tunes to keep the album interesting."

Saxophonist Gene Ammons had more than his share of run-ins with the law and just prior to a lengthy prison stay that would keep him off the scene for much of the mid to late '60s he would record Boss Tenor, arguably one of his best albums. The centerpiece of that set is the blues anthem Hittin' the Jug, heard here in an Alexander arrangement that boasts its own share of rewards. "You can't be a tenor player in Chicago and not learn this one," he says while speaking from experience. Note the way the pair voices that descending run in unison, then alternates solo turns at the arpeggiated lick that ends each two bar phrase. A clever stop-time device also launches the solos of both Alexander and Stewart.

Grant's ballad feature, Trouble is a Man, is a lovely Alec Wilder piece that reminds us of the unique melodic gifts of this oft-neglected composer. As Stewart explains, “That's on At Ease with Coleman Hawkins, one of my favorite Hawk records. There's [also] a video of Carmen McRae singing it on that Jazz Casual series. She sings it with the verse and after hearing that I decided I wanted to include the verse as well."

Who Can I Turn To comes from the collaborative team of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, penned for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd. Commenting on the sagacious idea to take this one at a quicker pace than usual, Eric acknowledges, "I like taking tunes that are generally done as ballads and swinging them."

Agreeable to this arrangement, Grant says, "I used to play it quite a bit, but hadn't played it in awhile. I used to do it in E flat, but we do it [here] in F."

One of the many Charlie Parker lines based on the chord changes to "I've Got Rhythm," Passport actually turned out of to be a stand-in for another piece in a fortuitous turn of serendipity. "We had something else we had planned to do, but that ended up being a last minute decision," says Grant. In addition to powerhouse solos from Grant, Eric, and David, the two tenor men trade fours before returning to the head. "Those Bird heads are so strange and unconventional," Grant later asserts. "You get so used to hearing them that you forget how abstract they really are. They're beautiful, but really avant garde."

The obvious merits of their first effort notwithstanding, I think both Eric and Grant would have to agree that further time spent on the bandstand after the release of Wailin' has helped to make this sophomore effort an even stronger statement. Throughout the session, you can hear that the pots were on, with the pair cookin' up a most fortifying musical feast.”

Tenor Time [Criss Cross 1332] David R. Adler, New York, January 2011

“Saxophonists Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart know all about the value of partnership, as their consistently fulfilling work under the Reeds and Deeds banner makes clear. It's part of a rich tradition of two-tenor pairings in jazz — deep and focused, informed by something beyond cutting-contest dynamics and showmanship.

Tenor Time is the third Reeds and Deeds outing, following up Wailin’ [Criss 1258] and Cookin’ [Criss 1283]. And that's the tip of the iceberg — Eric Alexander has appeared on over 30 Criss Cross titles either as a sideman or leader, dating back to 1992. Grant Stewart, with his copious vocabulary and heavier, darker-hued tenor sound, can trace his Criss Cross lineage back to 1992 as well. As individuals, these are two of the most accomplished and compelling tenor voices in the idiom today.

"We have a lot of similar influences," Grant offers. "Eric has more of a certain period of Trane in his playing, and a heavy George Coleman influence. I have a heavy Sonny Rollins influence. But we were both influenced by Dexter and Stitt and Bird." Alexander concurs and adds more wrinkles: "We are both coming out of the bebop language, but Grant from the Hawkins/Rollins side and I'm more from the Young/Gordon/ Coltrane side. Grant is more likely to make use of quotes and motivic development and I'm more likely to play some things that one would associate with modal and free jazz."

What unites them is a deep connection to the older masters of the music. Grant is quick to mention his experience with great drummers: Jimmy Cobb, Bobby Durham and Roy McCurdy among them. Eric draws on formative experiences with George Coleman, Charles Earland, John Hicks and others, and maintains an ongoing bond with piano great Harold Mabern (a Reeds and Deeds rhythm section member on various international tours).

Another key to Reeds and Deeds' success is the rest of the band on Tenor Time: pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth make their second appearance on an R & D date. These vibrant, rock-solid players, among the most sought-after straight-ahead jazz musicians in New York, are all well represented individually in the Criss Cross library, and they happen to be Eric's colleagues in the present incarnation of One for All (a supergroup sextet with its own history on Criss Cross dating back to 1999). Hazeltine plays a double role as consummate accompanist and co-soloist, breaking up the dominant tenor sound.

"It's basically Eric's rhythm section," Grant says, "though I've worked with them all in different settings. It's such a great band — you can't really go wrong." Eric notes how musicians of this caliber "play for you, not with you. That's a foreign concept to a lot of young players, but an essential one if we're going to be able to do our thing. Grant and I need space, but also creativity from [the band]."

And creativity is what they get. There's a sense of motivated swing and drive on these eight pieces, each perfectly chosen to highlight the co-leaders' simpatico as melodic interpreters and improvisers.

Omicron is a Donald Byrd composition that leads off Whims of Chambers, the classic 1956 album by bass legend Paul Chambers. Given that the tenor saxophonist on that recording is a fellow named John Coltrane, the inclusion of this Woody n' You variant makes perfect sense. "I called this one," says Grant, "because it's a [progression] we've all played on forever, and it's good to let loose on." Eric adds, "I've always felt it's a real challenge to play all of those half-diminished chords back to back." Their version retains the Latin tinge — and bass solo on the bridge — of the original, but increases the tempo. The two horns play steady unisons in lower and higher registers before breaking out into their respective statements (Eric, then Grant). It's just this sort of effortless blend of timbres, and flair for instinctive, off-the-cuff arrangements, that we hear throughout the album.

Cryin 'Blues, by Eddie Harris, has a laid-back, almost rock-like feel with twisty syncopation in the turnaround. Grant solos first, deep in the pocket; Eric takes an edgier, more multiphonic route and a broken-up rhythmic approach, at least initially. Hazeltine's solo features crisp, perfectly placed double-time lines and two choruses framed by classic hard-bop backgrounds from the saxes. "I suggested this tune," says Eric. "Eddie Harris came up with all of these funky tunes before anyone really knew what funk was. He was a borderline genius."

Eric's ballad feature comes with a twist: It's a duo with Hazeltine on Tenderly, the 1946 standard, and it gives us a sense of the warmth and blues feeling underlying Eric's more biting tone and angular ideas. Eric and David begin the piece rubato but ease into tempo, maintaining a slow 4/4 (the song was originally a waltz). "David and I really enjoy playing duos," Eric says. "We've explored that setting many times on gigs, and it was good for variety on this session."

Jule Styne's Make Someone Happy, from the 1960 Broadway production Do Re Mi suits Eric and Grant well as a mid-tempo cooker, with piquant harmonizations and obbligato on the head. "I've been playing this one for the last year or so," Grant remarks. I've always loved the Tony Bennett-Bill Evans duo version." The form is 40 bars: 16 and 16 with an eight-bar melodic tag. Grant swings authoritatively out of a stop-time break, threading melodies throughout his complex line playing (catch the surprise quote from Rollins' Freedom Suite about midway through the first chorus). Hazeltine offers two focused choruses and then yields to Alexander, who takes a busier and more fragmented rhythmic approach.

Amsterdam is an alluring melody by George Coleman, "my favorite tenor man in the world today and a tremendous human being," says Eric. "Grant, however, was the one who suggested it for the date." "We played it on the road in Japan," Grant explains, adding: "It's a fun tune to blow over, in E flat minor — you don't play that many tunes in E flat minor." Again the two tenors apportion the melody with an ear toward timbral variance and nuance. Following solos by Grant and then Eric, Hazeltine uncannily seizes on the propulsive, Latin-tinged rhythm to go McCoy Tyner-esque for about four bars, quoting subtly from A Love Supreme. Coltrane's influence rears its head, but this time from the piano bench.

Grant chooses Irving Berlin's Isn't It a Lovely Day as a ballad feature, omitting the opening verse. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong have a famous version, although according to Grant, "there's a Billie Holiday version that I used to listen to all the time." Farnsworth's brushes, Webber's patient walking, Hazeltine's sophisticated harmonic touches, Grant's way with that hair-raising cadence in the 14th bar, not to mention his soulful cadenza — this is how it's done at slow tempos.

Hazeltine reportedly wrote R and D Bossa just a day before the date. The pace is upbeat and there's a wealth of harmonic movement. The A section has a certain familial resemblance to the Horace Silver classic Nica's Dream. "Dave writes great tunes," says Stewart. "All of his pieces have a nice hook and he writes great melodies." Eric, Grant and the composer all have their say, and the two horns blow softly and simultaneously on the outro.

Rise 'n' Shine is a raging swinger from Coltrane's 1958 Prestige classic Settin' the Pace, and here it becomes the closest thing to an outright tenor duel we'll hear from Reeds and Deeds. But even if the pressure is on right away, with a round of trading eights, then fours and even twos, you can't afford to look over your shoulder and think about the other guy. "At that tempo, you're just thinking survival," Grant quips. But everyone makes it through — Grant peels off after the trading with a few stand-alone choruses, followed by Eric and then out. The abrupt downbeat at the end says it loud and clear: That's a wrap.’”