You won’t need to get very far into this disc – about 75 seconds, I’d say – to know why the Metropolitan Jazz Octet and Dee Alexander seem made for each other. After the rarely heard verse to “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” Jim Gailloreto’s arrangement swirls the horns together into a bebop Dixieland of collective improvisation; and yet, each one emerges with high-def clarity. So does Alexander when she re-enters; she becomes another instrument in the mix.

It's Too Hot for Words

I Wished On a Moon

The Metropolitan Jazz Octet (MJO) is the reawakening of a group that was originally started in the 1950’s by Chicago saxophonist and arranger Tom Hilliard.