Musicians: Constantine Alexander (trumpet and flugelhorn), Roy McGrath (tenor saxophone), Julius Tucker (piano), Greg Essig (drums), Ben Dillinger (bass)

“As a son of Greek immigrants born and raised in the (best) city of Chicago, you have to ask—what’s more Chicago than Pizza and Jazz? I hosted a jam session in 2017 at Gino’s East Pizzeria where The Firetet was born. Inspired by legendary bands like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and trumpeters Clifford Brown, Nicholas Payton, and Sean Jones, these cats reinvented the way a trumpet could sound which ultimately led me to bring out the fire from within.”

— Constantine Alexander

If you love jazz, then sometimes there’s nothing better than an album crammed with note after note of straight-up, no-nonsense, no-apologies jazz. Such as Constantine Alexander’s Firetet. On the album, the Chicago-based trumpeter/composer leads a quintet through seven intense original songs.

The pacing of each song is a lesson in letting the song do the directing. Whether it’s a solo or an accumlation of players, the center of each track seems to be the music. These musicians are of service to wherever the music leads. If the music itself isn’t really in charge, well then that just tells you how accomplished the musicians really are.