Sometimes a critic should declare bias, as in the case of Eric Alexander, who for me can do no wrong. A brilliant all-round contemporary tenorist, he's a fine middle-of-the-road improviser with a bit of Trane and a lot of George Coleman in his makeup. Tasteful and technically flawless, he's not above releasing an occasional low-key ballad album such as this. Some would rate it no higher than dinner jazz, yet anyone familiar with Alexander's consistently intelligent playing will get much more out of it. Zone in on his treatments of the neglected Coltrane ballad, ‘Central Park West’, the grand old Jimmy Dorsey standard, ‘I’m Glad There is You', or ‘Dinner for One Please, James’, a forgotten torch-song associated with Nat King Cole. Performed as a keyboard-sax duet, this number also reveals the hidden stride-piano talents of the veteran Harold Mabern. Elsewhere Webber and Farnsworth add their tactful support to an hour of laidback music with the occasional extra kick.