Eric Alexander: Touching

Eric Alexander

Composed by: , ,

Touching, ,

Although often thought of as hard-driving and masculine thanks to the pioneering work of Trane and others of his ilk, the saxophone also has a softer side, and is perfectly suited to rendering tunes at a slower tick of the metronome with sensitivity and tenderness. With Touching, Eric Alexander makes his first foray on HighNote Records into the hallowed halls of the "ballad record," joining the ranks of such tenor balladeers as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Houston Person, Dexter Gordon and countless others. But this is not your mother's ballad record. Alexander has avoided the "Body and Soul's" of the past and selected an interesting and varied program of music that will please even the most seasoned of jazz collectors. From "Dinner for One Please, James," a duet with Harold Mabern's two-fisted piano stylings, to Trane's "Central Park West," the art of the ballad elicits from this paragon of assertiveness a thoughtful sensitivity that is all the more effective for being so surprising.

Price: $24.98