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150-gram LP Limited Edition Pressing (500 only)
Acclaimed sextet One for All makes its much-anticipated return with BIG GEORGE, its first release in seven years and its 17th. The album reunites Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, David Hazeltine, John Webber, and Joe Farnsworth, who are joined on three tracks by a very special guest saxophonist, their mentor and hero, NEA Jazz Master George Coleman
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Called “New York’s premier hard-bop supergroup” by JAZZTIMES, One for All has evolved over the course of its quarter-century history from a sextet of young torchbearers to an assemblage of the music’s most revered traditionalists. It features the unparalleled line-up of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Jim Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. This time around the group has invited a very special guest for the proceedings – tenor sax legend George Coleman. This album will also be released as a limited edition 6-track vinyl edition.
While the title of BIG GEORGE is a nod to Coleman, the session is not a “tribute album” in the traditional sense. The tip of the hat is more an acknowledgment of the giants who still walk among us – a list that has grown distressingly (if inevitably) shorter over the sextet’s 27-year lifetime. Coleman is a living legend with an emphasis on the “living,” and his vital presence on three of the album’s nine tracks is less about paying homage than an opportunity to breathe fire alongside one of the greatest to ever do it.
Alexander explains, “I thought it was spectacular. His appearance makes it a little different from one of our typical dates. That is a component that hasn’t really been shown on our recordings thus far.”
