Brand New

Big-sound alto saxophonist Alex Graham convenes pianist David Hazeltine, trombonist Steve Davis and trumpeter Jim Rotondi from One For All, and synchronous bass-drums tandem Rodney Whitaker and Carl Allen on Brand New ***. It's a rollicking, well crafted session comprised of "new standards" (Hazeltine's charts on "You Make Me Feel Brand New" and "For The Love Of You"), two grooving originals and three songbook charts by Graham. A careful, lucid improviser, Graham references, with erudition and panache, vocabulary and tonal connotations from Cannonball Adderley, Phil Woods, Jackie McLean, Kenny Garrett and Donald Harrison, among others.