Monte Alexander is a very good player. My problem with his playing are his chords --they don't particular interest me. It's not that they're wrong--they are pedestrian. His great strength is that he can swing. When he plays those medium tempo blues things he can lay it down. However, he does not seem content to just swing; he wants to do other things and when he does they are good but not great. Some recordings call your name and insist you listen to them repeatedly. Sadly, this recording is not one of them. After listening to it a couple of times I have not gone back. For what it's worth, the drums are noticeably under-recorded. I like both the bass player and the drummer. John Pizzarelli, on all but one track of side 2, sounds great but his tracks with Monte are essentially fillers and unrelated to Side 1 of the CD
