Saxophonist-Composer-Educator Eric Alexander, a Belleville resident, will have his Fifth Quadrant released December 4 by Smoke Sessions Records. The album features pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Carl Allen. Alexander will celebrate the release Dec. 2-6 at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City.
Alexander played in the band of his mentor, piano man Harold Mabern [1936-2019], for 25 years, picking up his bebop cred in the process. Pianist Chestnut, heavily influenced by Mabern, fits perfectly. Bassist Reeves and drummer Allen played in the band of alto saxophonist Jackie McLean [1931-2006] together so there’s a cohesiveness at work here.
From the Rodgers & Hammerstein 1945 chestnut “It Might As Well Be Spring” and Mongo Santamaria’s 1959 “Afro Blue” to Stanley Turrentine’s 1970 “Sugar” and Stevie Wonder’s 1982 “Ribbon In The Sky,” Alexander infuses them all with his own personal stamp. Quincy Jones’s 1981 “The Dude” and “Don’t Understand,” from the soundtrack to the 1972 motion picture Shaft’s Big Score, get funky. The original title track was built from a practice session Alexander did with his students. He explains, “for something like 15 years, I kept handing my students this overtone matching exercise, and I would always suggest that it could make a good tune. Nobody ever took me up on it, so I finally decided to do something with it.
“My music and personal relationship with Harold can never be replicated,” concludes Alexander. “But even at this early stage, this quartet feels like a very similar prospect, and I’m really enthusiastic about it.”