So it is as appropriate as it is welcome that this latest Aleph issue focuses on Schifrin, the pianist, as much as Schifrin, the composer. He is joined by James morrison, equally prodigious on trumpet and trombone, and tenorist James Moody, who was a leading light in Dizzy Gillespie's matchless 1940's Big Band and sho subsequently worked with the trumpeter on many other occasions. Then there's Dennis Budimir on guitar, a renowned Los Angles musician with a warm supple tone reminiscent of Wes Montgomery: he cooks simmeringly while also showing exquisite touch and taste on ballads. Bassist Brian Bromberg, also a resident of LA, has worked with Schifrin and Morrison on a newber o club dates; a virtuoso with a huge sound and excellent time, he is as complelling in solo as he is when anchoring the rhythm section. And Peruvian percussionist Alex Acuna is a widely experienced musician who has lovely hands, the crispest articulation and is always sensitive to his confreres' needs and space. Of the nine selections, six are Schifrin tunes. As one would expect, they testify to the rich variety of his writer's palette and range of mood; as I hope you would now also expect, they equally enshrine the sumptuous quality of his pianism. - Richard Palmer