I‘ve reviewed several duo recordings so far, and mentioned Eric Alexander as a developing player is an earlier epinion.. This CD is a 1996 recording featuring Alexander and Lin Halliday, another well-regarded tenor player, who performed actively in the Chicago area until his death in February 2000.
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Just as an aside, this is my 100th epinion. Thanks to all of you who have read and rated my work and left encouraging comments. I plan to be here for a long time to come.
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I was disappointed to learn that the "new" epinions did not permit adding new music. However, several CDs from local Chicago labels, Delmark (the source of this CD) and Southport are reviewable and, in the future, I'll be reviewing some albums from these labels.

I've been aware of Eric Alexander's playing for several years, as I've heard him live and worked with several people who know him and have worked with him. He's a fluent player, with great technique, and a big, slightly dark sound sometimes reminiscent of Dexter Gordon. Even though Alexander's body of recordings has not achieved great recognition, he is nevertheless a tremendous player.

Halliday was a very accomplished player, with fluent technique and a sound and feel out of the Lester Young tradition but quite modernized. He labored in obscurity, in part due to alcohol abuse, for the most part until the tail end of his career, where he cut several albums for Delmark, including this one.

These two began playing together during jam sessions that Halliday used to lead at the Bop Shop in Chicago, and their playing shows familiarity with each other. They are joined on this date by Chicago stalwarts Jodie Christian on piano, Dan Shapera on bass and Wilbur Campbell on drums. The tunes are all standards, with a nice mix of tempos. The entire band is very tight with each other throughout.

The thing that struck me about this album was Alexander's maturity. His tone is big, dark and warm, with fluent yet not gratuitous technique.

Rather than doing a blow-by-blow recap of the cuts, I'll summarize my comments. This is a satisfying album for several reasons:

*Lots of room for the players - there are 7 cuts, all standards spread over 62 minutes
*A nice variety of tempos from ballad to furious
*A great, tight rhythm section, which plays together, often as the house band for Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase club
*Both the players play wonderfully, with Alexander being a bit ahead at this point. Alexander's best solos are a Dexter-esqe version of Like Someone In Love and on Blue Bird. Halliday's most interesting moment comes in a chorus with drum accompaniment on Speak Low. However, there are no bad cuts or bad solos by anybody.

As I said before, I've seen Alexander live a couple of times. When I got the CD cover signed, I sat with him throughout the break on one of his dates. He was really very nice and friendly. We spent almost the entire time talking about reeds - he even asked me what I thought about how he was sounding.

I usually check the All Music Guide on the music I review to make sure that I have the available information and to compare my conclusions to theirs. More often than not, I do not agree with them. However, this time, I did. They gave this 4 ½ stars and a best-of-artist designation. For me, 5 stars, along with the suggestion that this CD will provide lots of great solos by two great players, that should be heard.

Cut list:
The Eternal Triangle
Blue Bird
Polka Dots and Moonbeams/Old Folks
Speak Low
Like Someone In Love
The Night has A Thousand Eyes
Stablemates

It is readily available from online shops.

You can find more information about this and other Delmark CDs at www.delmark.com

Thanks for reading. God bless!

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: At Work