For Robert Altman's Kansas City film, since the story was centered in 1934 Kansas City, Altman wanted to have younger musicians depict top jazz artists of the era playing at one of the legendary jam sessions. He recruited many of today's top modernists and, although they used arrangements based on older recordings, they did not have to necessarily improvise in the style of the time. Actually, it is surprising how close the musicians often come, recapturing not just the music of the period but the adventurous spirit of such immortals as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Lester Young. A dozen songs from the film are on this very enjoyable and unique CD, which features such players as trumpeter Nicholas Payton, clarinetist Don Byron, guitarists Russell Malone and Mark Whitfield, pianists Geri Allen and Cyrus Chestnut, altoists Jesse Davis and David "Fathead" Newman, and four of today's great tenors: James Carter, Craig Handy, David Murray, and Joshua Redman. In addition, Kevin Mahogany sings "I Left My Baby." Although there are some audience shouts on a couple of the pieces, this is one soundtrack album that very much stands up on its own.

Altoist Jesse Davis can always be relied upon to perform modern swinging hard bop music. On this set he teams up with an impressive all-star cast also including trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lewis Nash. Davis contributed six of the nine selections and, although the songs generally have challenging chord changes and inspire strong solos, the individual melodies are not too memorable. However the musicians play quite well and this music will be easily enjoyed by straightahead jazz fans. Davis and Payton make for a mutually complementary team.

Jesse Davis comes close to capturing the sound and exuberant spirit of Cannonball Adderley on this release while also hinting strongly at Charlie Parker, Phil Woods and Richie Cole. Davis utilizes a strong backup crew that includes guitarist Peter Bernstein and pianist Brad Mehldau to perform a set of superior tunes. The music is not particularly innovative but is a fine example of high-quality bebop played by some promising young players.