Lester Young started the sax quartet back in the forties, and few things 
display the basics of jazz improvisation and interplay like it. Here are two torch carriers.
The reason I never doubled on alto sax (I play clarinet) is that I felt that if I couldn’t have a tone like Johnny Hodges, I didn’t even want to try. Alto saxist Sigurdur Flosason has one of THE most gorgeous sounds around, with a warmth that rivals The Rabbit. He fronts a band with Nikolaj Hess/p, Lennart Ginman/b and Morten Lund/dr through a collection of subtly swinging originals. His sound is palpable on the glowing “By Myself, All Alone” that is also able to bop with the best. The suave support by the rhythm is sleek on the more subdued and sophisticatedly hip “Counting Sheep” and “While the Night Lingers”, while the whole team burns like gold embers by the campfire on”Faraway Shore” and the title track. My only request is that every alto sax student at Berklee College should have this disc as a required course of what their instrument should sound like.
Baritone saxist B.J. Jansen has a rough and thick growl to his horn, and mixes nimble digital dexterity as well as a fervent sense of swing. He joins up with pianist Mamiko Watanabe and a rotating team of Mike Boone-Amanda Ruzza/b and Chris Beck-Dorota Piotrowska/dr through nine originals that burn like a hot poker. Jansen digs down deep on “Blues For C.P.” and goes form the ionosphere on “Manhattan Trane’in.” His sound fills the room on “Diamonds for Lil” and shows his machismo on “RONIN.” No chance of emphysema here!
Storyville Records
JansenMusic