While the tunes are all mainstream, this particular ensemble plays much closer to the 'edge', for lack of a better term. That shouldn't be particularly surprising, given that the participants all have pretty fair free jazz backgrounds. This was actually the first Roots ensemble recorded live in 1991. It is a riveting and fun ride start to finish!
"Recorded at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival, where this outstanding all-star saxophone repertory band made its début in 1991, this album features ROOTS celebrating some of the great saxophonists in jazz with memorable versions of the great compositions with which they are associated.
"What ROOTS celebrates so enjoyably... is the sheer vitality, adaptability and diversity of the jazz tradition itself, providing as it does an ever-expanding body of work to be interpreted anew by each succeeding generation of musicians."
(Chris Parker, Jazz Correspondent , Daily Telegraph Weekend)
