Album Notes

Alto saxophonist GENE REDDEN, whose various musical efforts represent a "jazz genre", has established himself in Jazz with his playing and writing for his own groups. A strong, imaginative player with a solid sense of swing. Gene was performing in Jazz Rooms from Chicago to Detroit. He credits such players as Hank Crawford, Lou Donaldson, Earl Bostic, along with Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Don Hill and Tab Smith as his influences. In the early days, Gene moved to Europe and led his own group, playing the prestigious Padua and Speletto Jazz Festivals, as well as performing in Jazz Clubs throughout Europe. Upon his return to the United States, he recorded at Chess Records and later Aries Records and played Jazz venues like Smalls' Paradise and the Blue Note in New York City. The jazz Workshop, Brass Rail and Basin Street East in Boston, Basin Street West in San Francisco, Jazz Festivals in Las Angeles and Las Vegas. Possessing a rich hard tone and unique sound that is suggestive of the dark and secret in musical emotion, Gene is most certainly a player that has arrived with soulful, sensitive compositions that serve him well. One of the greatest alto sax jazz players of this time. Gene is probably and without doubt in jazz circles the greatest alto sax jazz improvisor of all time. With his big band you will not hear anything atonal, unmusical, or avant-grade. To describe this phenomenal group as nothing less than complete virtuosity. They attract the hip cats, the squares, older folks who like to dance, people who like to reminisce, the whole spectrum.