TMadness1013

edited

I really dig Rotondi - great straight ahead playing. Nothing ground breaking, but like others have mentioned it's very refreshing to just hear some killer post-bop playing. Magnarelli & John Swana are two of my other favorite trumpet guys out there right now.

After reading all these responses I'm surprised a few things haven't been touched on. Apples & oranges! Alexander has admitted himself that he's not doing anything groundbreaking...he's not trying to reinvent himself constantly. He just wants to play straight ahead jazz. And he does it with a modern approach - he plays "inside" but has an incredible harmonic sense that allows him to get "outside" just long enough to be extremely tasteful in the style. Alexander has been doing this since his first release "Straight Up" and will continue to do so. I'm someone who digs straight ahead playing very much - so all in all, Alexander has been in the heaviest rotation for me in the past 10 years. Redman on the other hand is a player who is much more well-rounded and capable of playing in many styles. He's also grown quite a bit since that Monk competition. He's one of the only guys out there I can think of that has given a unique approach (notably the Elastic band on the Elastic & Momentum recordings) While Redman is extremely well rounded in terms of style, I personally don't feel he plays in the straight ahead post-bop genre better than Alexander. Can he play some funk/rock oriented stuff better than Alexander? I think so, without a doubt. I think his trio approach has been very interesting in recent years. He's very exposed...and there's so much communication going on. Sax/drums/bass, a la Sonny Rollins has been a really beautiful outlet for his playing. In terms of their command of the instrument...Redman clearly has more control in the altissimo register which he capitalizes on. Alexander I feel is much more comfortable at blazing fast tempos. I think it's also interesting what someone earlier noted...Alexander has recorded a TON more than Redman. 31 albums as a leader. 20 as a co-leader. 132 albums as a sideman (from my research - not a definitive number). Redman doesn't even touch this. In terms of live performance, I'm pretty sure that Alexander is much more active as well. Is this because Redman is pulling in more money because of greater name recognition? Or Alexander is incredibly ambitious? Probably a little of both. Regardless, Alexander & Redman are easily my two favorite living tenor players. I would kill for a recording (or even just a set list!) of what these two (along w/ Potter) played at that infamous Thelonious Monk Competition.