Reed Legends Unite - Bob

First meeting in the clubs of Los Angeles' Central Avenue in the early 1960s, and following separate but superlative careers, tenor legends Hadley Caliman and Pete Christlieb reunited in the fall of 2009 to perform a couple of concerts and record a new studio CD -- "Reunion" -- taking up where they left off some forty years ago. With original music by pianist Bill Anschell and the two headliners along with a couple of standards, the band creates a warm and swinging recording, a great document of two longtime friends and icons of American music.

Another legend of the saxophone, James Moody, follows up his "Moody 4A" release of last year with "Moody 4B", recorded in 2008 a day after the previous disc. As Ira Gitler writes in his liner notes, "While these sessions were not recorded before a live audience, the essence of Moody and the quartet (pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Todd Coolman and drummer Lewis Nash) comes through with elan and spirit. Again there are numerous pearls from the Great American Songbook as well as gems from the Great American Jazz Standards Library."

Meanwhile, saxophonist Matt Garrison unveils his first disc as a leader, "Familiar Places", featuring trumpet great Claudio Roditi and guitarist Mark Whitfield; guitarist Tomas Janzon is joined by jazz greats Tootie Heath and Art Hillery on his third release, "Experiences"; and Eastern Iowa pianist and composer Tim Daugherty and his quartet offer up a program of original tunes inspired by the aftermath of the Iowa Floods of 2008 on "River of Promise."