Friendly Fire – Live at SmokeHigh Note **

For those who yearn for the swinging certainties of bebop, Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring's saxophone cutting contest will be a godsend. The spirit of Hank Mobley in particular hovers over this live recording made last year in New York, with two of his tunes featuring: the opener Pat 'n' Chat and his standard Dig Dis. The only trouble is that, with plenty of actual Mobley records already out there, anyone coming along with a retread 50 years later had better be ready to take the Pepsi challenge. And therein lies a reservation. Musicians with the technique and imagination of the bebop masters are not playing bebop today. They are doing what Parker et al actually did, which was to absorb the influences around them and come up with something original. Though Alexander and Herring are both worthy revivalists, and the playing from all concerned is impressive, its hard to shake the sense that something is missing. ericalexanderjazz.com