Von Freeman, Photo by Andrea Canter

In the past decade, tenor saxman Eric Alexander has more than lived up to his Young Lion hype. With an astounding 17 recordings to his credit as leader and dozens more as sideman, the 2003 Jazz Week Musician of the Year keeps a busy schedule composing and performing. This week (November 22-27), he’s “Blowin’ in From Chicago” with an all-star quintet at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center), featuring long-time mentor, pianist Harold Mabern, and the legendary Chicago tenorman Von Freeman.

Born in Galesburg, IL and raised in Olympia, Washington, Alexander first learned piano at age six, then clarinet at nine, and moved to alto sax at 12. With a strong classical background, Alexander became obsessed with jazz as a student at Indiana University and converted to tenor. Transferring to William Paterson College in New Jersey, he studied with Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, and Rufus Reid. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that, even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos, I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."

Settling in Chicago initially, Alexander impressed organist Charles Earland, with whom he made a number of trio recordings, including his debut as sideman, Unforgettable (1991, Muse). In 1991, Alexander placed second behind Joshua Redman in the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. He soon moved to New York, performing at The Blue Note, The Village Vanguard, Sweet Basil's, Small's, and The Iridium, appearing with Cecil Payne, Harold Mabern, Eddie Henderson, Larry Willis, Kenny Barron, Freddie Cole, Pat Martino, and Cedar Walton, among others. After his first release as a leader, Straight Up (Delmark, 1992), he went on to record with CrissCross and Alfa, and formed the hard bop sextet, One for All, with Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Peter Washington, and Dave Hazeltine.

Of Nightlife in Tokyo (Milestone, 2003), Ted Panken wrote in his liner notes, “[Alexander] plays with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of inspiration, uncorking a series of immaculately executed statements of considerable invention and tonal authority… he creates clear melodic lines, slaloms through the gnarliest harmonic sequences, deftly manipulates timbre, and swings incessantly.”

Photo by Andrea Canter

Pianist Harold Mabern has remained Alexander’s most consistent collaborator and mentor, and appears regularly with the quartet and on Nightlife in Tokyo. The Memphis native worked in Chicago during his early career before moving on to New York to work with such luminaries as Lionel Hampton, Art Farmer, and J. J. Johnson. Mabern has accompanied Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, and Dakota Staton. He worked with Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Roy Haynes, and Wes Montgomery in the late 1960s, and later with Clark Terry, Billy Harper, Joe Newman, and George Coleman. He was a member of a seven-piano group under the direction of Stanley Cowell and led the four-piano group, The Contemporary Piano Ensemble.

Although perhaps best known as the father of tenorist Chico, Von Freeman has been shaping his career in music since early childhood in Chicago. He first studied clarinet and the Melody C Saxophone, influenced early on by Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, and Coleman Hawkins. After a tour in the Navy band during World War II, he worked in Chicago clubs such as the Pershing where he met Charlie Parker and other top performers of the era; he spent two years with Sun Ra and then worked with Chicago's Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), as well as Chicago bluesman Sunnyland Slim. While often associated with the avant garde, Freeman’s eclectic “tough tenor” is much more soaked in blues and bop. Fellow Chicagoan Kurt Elling describes him as “the great squealing rabbi, his enchanted horn broadcasting a benediction straight into people’s now defenseless hearts.”

Rounding out this special quintet are Eric Alexander’s usual suspects, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Another Chicago-connected musician, bassist John Webber grew up in suburban Wheaton, where he started out on electric bass at age 10. Switching to upright bass at 15, Webber was inspired by Ray Brown and Paul Chambers. Playing around Chicago, he worked with Von Freeman before moving to New York and joining bands led by Lou Donaldson, Junior Cook, Johnny Griffin, and Peter Bernstein. He met Eric Alexander and Joe Farnsworth at a jam session. First-call drummer Joe Farnsworth’s “sticking and footwork packs as much of a wallop as any young firebrand… [while] precision and restraint are characteristic of his approach to the instrument” (David Orthmann, All About Jazz). A college classmate of Eric Alexander’s, Farnsworth has appeared on many of the saxist’s recordings, including Nightlife in Tokyo.

Whether with sextet or quartet, Alexander describes his musical mission as “assembling good musicians that I'm comfortable playing with, getting quality material--a combination of originals and standards and perhaps some new arrangements on standard tunes--and trying to make the kind of a recording that a jazz fan or musician can put on and enjoy listening to from start to finish.”

The gig at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola will be a very special Chicago-land reunion, one that promises richly textured, bop-propelled energy from a stellar cross-generational collaborative.

Eric Alexander’s quintet will be on stage at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, November 22-27. For tickets, visit: www.jalc.org. On November 29-December 4, the Eric Alexander Quintet will be in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase (www.jazzshowcase.com) For more information about Eric Alexander including his extensive discography, see www.ericalexanderjazz.com