Ever since he first began to be noticed in 1992,
Eric Alexander
has developed into one of the giants of the tenor sax. He is not an
avant-garde
trailblazer; nor are there scores of saxophonists who sound like his clones. But
Alexander
has developed his own sound within the areas of
hard bop
to
post-bop
; he gives the impression that he can sound confident and very credible in any setting, and he has yet to make an unworthy recording. He has led at least 20 CD recordings since his emergence, with
Temple of Olympic Zeus
being one of his best. The middle of the CD, where
performs a lyrical version of
"Some Other Time"
and a hard-swinging
"Blues for David,"
features some of his finest playing. Four selections add the fiery trumpet of
Jim Rotondi
, who is a particularly suitable match with
. Pianist
David Hazeltine
sounds inspired throughout this outing and bassist
Nat Reeves
and drummer
Joe Farnsworth
are stimulating and supportive. But the main star is
, a brilliant improviser who deserves much more recognition for invigorating
jazz
's modern mainstream. ~ Scott Yanow