This album is a long-anticipated studio work that features the late Michel Petrucciani in what stands, sadly, as the brilliant pianist's last completed recording project. Co-produced by Petrucciani, Quartet serves as a reaffirmation of Grossman's prodigious and often overlooked talents, while also paying homage to the spirit and career of a truly masterful musician and composer. Having moved to Europe over 10 years ago, the well-regarded saxophonist and former Miles Davis sideman is heard from too infrequently. Presenting his most soulful and lyrical album to date, Quartet finds Grossman concentrating solely on the tenor saxophone, with Petrucciani, bassist Andy McKee and drummer Joe Farnsworth providing superb, complementary support on the disc's 10 selections. Listeners familiar with Grossman's earlier, groundbreaking fusion-jazz days and post-Coltrane stylizations will be pleasantly surprised by the rich, ballad-centric program of Quartet, which shows the saxophonist harkening back to his first saxophone heroes, Jackie McLean and Sonny Rollins. Quartet opens with Grossman spotlighted on the gorgeously stated "Ebb Tide" followed by a swing through McKee's modern blues, "Inner Circle." Here, Petrucciani sparkles in a rollicking solo over energetic rhythm backing. "Song For My Mother," penned by the leader, is simultaneously respectful and a bit of a push toward the frontiers of improvisational whimsy. This resplendent nod to Rollins is given further validation in similarly idealized cuts like "You Go to My Head," and the Saxophone Colossus' own uptempo gem, "Why Don't I?". Michel Petrucciani's final composition, "Parisian Welcome", was written especially for this session and is full of Gallic flavor, which the saxophonist readily and humorously plays off of. Throughout Quartet the real joy is in the exquisite interplay between Grossman's warm tenor and Petrucciani's empathetic touch, as evidenced here on "Body & Soul" and the Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh classic "Don't Blame Me." Steve Grossman : saxophone - Michel Petrucciani : piano - Andy McKee : contrebasse - Joe Farnsworth : batterie