For those not in the know, logic may dictate that a four-part entity cannot have a fifth quadrant. But on Fifth Quadrant, acclaimed saxophonist Eric Alexander makes the impossible feel inevitable.

Alexander’s new quartet brings together four masterful musicians and longtime friends: Cyrus Chestnut on piano, Nat Reeves on bass, and Carl Allen on drums. Their first studio recording as a quartet captures a rare musical chemistry — joyful, soulful, combustible, and deeply intuitive, where performer and listener connect on a level beyond the intellectual.

The album marks Alexander’s debut as a leader for Smoke Sessions Records, extending a longstanding relationship with the label and Smoke Jazz Club. Alexander has previously recorded and performed extensively at the club, including the 2025 release SPLIT DECISION with Vincent Herring, albums with the collective One for All, and numerous dates with his mentor and longtime collaborator, pianist Harold Mabern.

That history resonates throughout Fifth Quadrant. Chestnut shares Alexander’s expansive appetite for music across genres and generations, while Reeves brings a deep connection to the Mabern/Alexander tradition. Reeves and Allen also share a history dating to their work with Jackie McLean.

1. Fifth Quadrant
2. One Hundred Ways
3. Don’t Misunderstand
4. Newk
5. Be
6. Ribbon in the Sky
7. Bit by Bit
8. It Might as Well Be Spring
9. Afro Blue (live) [Bonus Track]
10. Sugar (live) [Bonus Track]

This diligently crafted new hard bop music recording from Alexander and company opens on the flourishing beauty within the titular Fifth Quadrant and the demurely elegant One Hundred Ways, and then we are gifted the affluently emotive Don’t Misunderstand, the luxuriant Newk and the smoothly sculpted musical majesties within Be.

Along next is the resplendent magnificence of Ribbon in the Sky which is itself backed seamlessly by the gently strident fare of Bit by Bit, a quite breathtakingly ambient It Might as Well Be Spring, the new set rounding out on two bonus live cuts: the frenetically charged Afro Blue and the engagingly impassioned Sugar.

Official Purchase Link

www.ericalexanderjazz.com