The stars on this sparkling quartet recording from London Soho's Pizza Express jazz club are two New Yorkers with a long collaborative history. Pianist Harold Mabern first gained notice playing with Johnny Griffin in Chicago 1954, moved to NYC and his expansive list of credits include Lee Morgan's final band. Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, a former pupil of Harold Mabern, has been a lead figure in NYC's modern mainstream since releasing his first album in 1992 with Mabern in the piano chair. The quartet is completed by Parisbased American Darryl Hall on bass and Austrian drummer Bernd Reiter, something of a go-to rhythm team for American mainstreamers undertaking European tours. The largely songbook set opens with a loping ‘Almost Like Being In Love’, shifts up a gear with ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ and features ‘It's Magic’ as a ballad. ‘The Night Has A Thousand Eyes’ pulses with modal energy before breaking into a fast swing, and a set closing ‘Summertime’ keeps the momentum high. And there is one original, Mabern's atmospheric, Tyneresque rocker ‘Nightlife In Tokyo’, the album's highlight. Both Alexander and Mabern are on form, spinning lines with narrative intent over snicks of hi-hat, chatters of snare and the pulse of a sturdy walking bass. Mabern has lost none of his sparkle, and delivers a masterclass of voicings and vamps. And the saxophonist plays with the easy swagger of a musician who has internalised the language and is relaxed in the company that he keeps. But it is the empathetic relationship between Alexander and Mabern that really shines out, and gives life to a well-established form.