Led nominally by tenor and soprano saxophonist Craig Handy, the ensemble earned notice through a limited run of carefully planned and executed albums. Its debut, Chartbusters! Volume 1, arrived in 1995 as a lively tribute to Blue Note Records, though the project surfaced only on a modest independent label and therefore reached few listeners. The next recording instead saluted Prestige Records and the musicians on its roster, with that same company issuing the album. Core personnel included Donald Harrison, Lonnie Smith, and Idris Muhammad, joined by Randy Brecker on additional horn and David Fiuczynski on guitar for Mating Call. The guiding principle requires the performance of material associated with, and in some cases composed by, artists who recorded for the featured labels, among them Gene Ammons, John Coltrane, Tadd Dameron, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Rollins. The musicians make no attempt to impersonate or replicate prior versions; the chosen pieces serve merely as departure points shaped by the band’s own inspiration and improvisational abilities. The results have been consistently strong, fluent post-bop music.
