Eric Alexander & Mike LeDonne - Together (2024) [Hi-Res]

While solo and duo recordings do not come in all sizes, they indeed have various shapes. Slam Stewart and Don Byas, as the only two musicians to make a nearly snowed-out 1945 Town Hall gig, formed an impromptu, but unquestionably musically satisfying duo (remembered largely for their lickety-split version of “I Got Rhythm”). Jim Hall and Bill Evans are dependably sublime on Undercurrent. Turning to solo work, Evans waxed Alone as a solo pianist, creatively entering a relatively crowded recorded space that also includes contributions from Thelonious Monk (Solo Monk, Alone in San Francisco), Art Tatum’s Piano Starts Here, and Ray Bryant’s Alone With the Blues, not to mention Concord’s voluminous Maybeck Recital Hall series. Solo jazz saxophone recordings, on the other hand, are few and far between, making Eric Alexander’s solo contributions to the recording here all the more unique and important. And although the living master Sonny Rollins recorded in this format (The Solo Concert), contributions here seem most often to coalesce around the avant-garde (Anthony Braxton’s For Alto and Roscoe Mitchell’s Solo Saxophone Concerts).

Is it the transparency of the solo and duo context that so intrigues and attracts? The offer to jazz fans of a heretofore clarity of insight and perspective into the most intimate of musical gestures traditionally obfuscated in larger aggregations. Well, the answer here is a definitive yes. And it is for these reasons, and many more that Together stands as both a unique and a fine new contribution to the already impressive discographies of LeDonne and Alexander.

With the two principals featured in both solo and duo formats, Together is tethered by the supreme musicianship for which LeDonne and Alexander are known, as well as the comfortable tug of trust and bandstand familiarity. “For playing like this to work,” states LeDonne from his New York-area home, “you need to have trust in the other musician and know them musically very well.” Having worked together in countless iterations since an initial introduction in 1992, it is easy to hear why these two New York city jazz stalwarts found shared musical ground. “He’s got all the elements that I need,” continues LeDonne. “A sophisticated harmonic approach with a bluesy and classic tenor style. Plus, he can swing and has a beautiful sound.”

In many ways, these musical qualities that he cites as emblematic of Alexander’s playing are attributes that LeDonne himself possesses and speak to their simpatico musical approach. “Mike and I share a great appreciation for each other’s musical abilities,” states Alexander of his pianist partner whose deft touch, lyrical expressiveness, and deep groove on both organ (although not on this recording here) and piano showcase the impressive skills that made him a side person of choice for such preeminent jazz figures as Benny Golson, Milt Jackson, and the Art Farmer-Clifford Jordan Quintet, among others. “Because of our vast experience working together, we have developed a type of telepathy that has come about through many shared hours on the bandstand.”
Given the above then, the success of this recording is predicated on that rare combination of little pre-determined thought, and yet a lifetime of experience. “It wasn’t so much a concept,” suggests LeDonne, “as it was a phone call. We both had some solo pieces together and had started playing duo over the COVID period. Then Eric got some studio time, he called me, and we just went for it.” “Plus,” elaborates Alexander, “we have always found the duo setting to be both rewarding and challenging, and many jazz enthusiasts expressed their wish that we make a duo recording.”

In less experienced musical hands, the absence of deliberate planning for such a potentially vulnerable and revealing session might yield less than ideal results. But with LeDonne and Alexander at the helm, spontaneity reigns supreme acting as a welcome accelerant for these beautiful results. “Playing solo and duo are a lot alike,” continues LeDonne, who, with “Lost But Not Forgotten” and “Mary” contributes two original solo compositions to the recording here. “‘Mary’ is dedication to my 20-year-old daughter,” continues LeDonne. “In many ways this piece is both an amalgamation of, and a continuation of the five-part “Suite Mary” [recorded for Cellar Live on 2013’s Speak] that I wrote to celebrate her, the disabled community of which she is part, and the fact that she is the centre of everything that I do musically, and someone who has deepened my life by leaps and bounds.” And while this track clocks in at almost eight minutes in length, it never feels drawn out or exhaustive. LeDonne, performing on Rudy van Gelder’s nine-foot Steinway concert grand that the pianist used on 2005’s Night Song, mines his solo piano bag of tricks in order to sound fulsome and take up the complete sonic spectrum of an ensemble, without resorting to walking bass lines or acting as a kind of ersatz rhythm section. “With regard to our approach,” suggests Alexander, “we don’t change a thing, but imagine that we have a bassist and drummer with us, and simply adhere to our typical roles.”

Specific to the duo pieces contained on Together, while it is perhaps a cliché to use the conversation metaphor to describe interactive musical interplay, there is indeed a dialogic happening when these two modern masters meet in the studio and communicate with a kind of musical clairvoyance that begs the conversational comparison.
Listen, for example, to their shared use of rapid ascending chromatic improvisatory lines that seem to pick up from where the other had left off over LeDonne’s “For Mabes” (a dedication to the late pianist Harold Mabern, who was a mentor to both men here). Or Alexander’s “Mutation,” which, evidencing the sort of stylistic fusing of the traditional with the modern of which LeDonne spoke, perfectly embodies the unpremeditated nature that is the sole province of the greatest of jazz. “That tune was supposed to be ‘Airegin,’” continues LeDonne. “But when we got into the studio, Eric mentioned that he had a concert part and we just played it down as a first take. I mean you talk about loose! That was about as loose a date as you can possibly get.”

Foregrounding “standards that we both enjoy playing” as well as “a few originals that fit the programming of the recording,” Alexander states that Together was “truly a joy to make.” And as listeners will undoubtedly attest, whether it is the solo pieces, the duo selections, or both, it is an equally joyous listen.

Eric Alexander - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Mike LeDonne - piano