Chicago To New York Eric Alexander

• 1 Afro Blue 07:59
• 2 Wise One 07:23
• 3 This Is Always 08:21
• 4 Only The Lonely 02:52
• 5 Hittin' The Jug 05:28
• 6 The Lamp Is Low 10:51
• 7 Angel Eyes 08:52
• Total Runtime 51:46

Info zu Chicago To New York

Das neue Album des New Yorker Saxophonisten Eric Alexander würdigt die nach wie vor bestehende Schnittstelle und das Zusammenspiel zwischen Chicago und New York.

Mit seinem warmen, fein geschliffenen Ton und seiner kraftvollen melodischen und harmonischen Fantasie erkundet der Tenorsaxophonist Eric Alexander von Anfang an neue musikalische Welten. Sein neues Album „Chicago to New York“ würdigt die nach wie vor bestehende Schnittstelle und das Zusammenspiel zwischen Chicago und New York. Anders als Alexanders Album „Chicago Fire“ aus dem Jahr 2014, das eine ausschließlich aus New Yorker Musikern bestehende Rhythmusgruppe enthielt, ist die herausragende Besetzung auf diesem neuen Album gleichmäßig aufgeteilt: LeDonne und Alexander repräsentieren New York, während der stets exzellente Bassist Dennis Carroll und Schlagzeuger George Fludas Chicago repräsentieren, wo diese dynamische Rhythmusgruppe weiterhin lebt und arbeitet.

Das Thema der Platte erkundet auf raffinierte Weise die gemeinsame Verbindung zwischen zwei weit entfernten Städten und profitiert von der Nähe, die alle vier Personen hinsichtlich ihres musikalischen Ansatzes, ihrer herausragenden instrumentalen Fähigkeiten und ihrer gemeinsamen Gruppenästhetik teilen, die Groove, Swing und das Geben und Nehmen, das den besten Jazz auszeichnet, in den Vordergrund stellt. Zusammen mit der sorgfältigen Auswahl von John Coltrane, Matt Dennis und Mongo Santamaria (unter anderem) bietet das Repertoire der Aufnahme Alexander und seiner Band hervorragende improvisatorische Möglichkeiten, die fast 1300 Kilometer zwischen diesen beiden großen amerikanischen Jazzstädten gekonnt zu bereisen ... viel Spaß auf der Fahrt!

Eric Alexander, Tenor- und Sopransaxophon
Mike LeDonne, Klavier
Dennis Carroll, Bass
George Fludas, Schlagzeug

Aufgenommen in den Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, am 7. Mai 2024
Konstruiert, gemischt und gemastert von Maureen Sickler
Produziert von Eric Alexander und Cory Weeds
Ausführender Produzent: Cory Weeds

Eric Alexander
Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."

During the 1990s, after placing second behind Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Alexander threw himself into the whirlwind life of a professional jazz musician. He played with organ trios on the South Side of Chicago, made his recording debut in 1991 with Charles Earland on Muse Records, and cut his first album as leader in 1992 (Straight Up for Delmark). More recordings followed for numerous labels, including Milestone and others, leading to 1997's Man with a Horn; the 1998 collaborative quartet session with George Mraz, John Hicks, and Idris Muhammad, Solid!; and, that same year, the first recording by One For All, Alexander's ongoing band with Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Peter Washington, and Dave Hazeltine.

Eric has appeared in many capacities on record, including leader, sideman, producer as well as composing a number of the tunes he records. By now, Alexander has lost count of how many albums feature his playing; he guesses 80 or 90. While he has garnered critical acclaim from every corner, what has mattered most has been to establish his own voice within the illustrious bop-based jazz tradition.

In 2004, Eric signed an exclusive contract with the New York-based independent jazz label, HighNote Records where he has amassed a considerable discography of critically-acclaimed recordings. Most recent among them is “Chicago Fire” HCD 7262, “The Real Thing” with Pat Martino HCD 7278 and “Second Impression” HCD 7296. Eric’s most recent HighNote release, “Song of No Regrets,”(HCD 7311) was featured in Downbeat’s “Hot Box”. He is currently working on a new recording project which will see commercial release in mid-2019.

Eric continues to tour the world over to capacity audiences. Using NYC as his home base he can regularly be seen in the city’s most prestigious jazz clubs.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet