Frank Tiberi: 4 Brothers 7

Ah, nostalgia. What would we do without it? The warm, fuzzy feelings take us back to less complicated times when the cares of the world were always somewhere else, bothering someone else. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Frank Tiberi has chosen, on 4 Brothers 7, to offer a remembrance of the Woody Herman Band and, in particular, its Second Herd, also known as the Four Brothers Band. The 7> in the title represents the Tiberi group's seven players: four saxophones and a rhythm section, all veterans of various Herman aggregations, oddly enough.

So, in addition to Tiberi, we get tenorists Larry McKenna and John Nugent, baritone saxophonist Mike Brignola, pianist David Berkman, bassist Lynn Seaton and drummer Matt Wilson mostly working over Four Brothers-styled arrangements on a goodly number of the album's eleven tracks.

A comfort level is established from the start with the opening "Four Brothers," then moves along to "Just You, Just Me," the first of two tracks linked to Tenor Conclave (Prestige, 1956), with the second being the title tune of that album, which closes this collection. In between there are three tracks with titles honoring Herman—"Woody's Whistle," "Woody 'n You" and "Woody's Lament"—as well as two originals by Tiberi and one by Nugent, plus John Coltrane's "Central Park West." Tiberi's "The Garz and I" (a tribute to tenorist George Garzone) is the most modern of these efforts. Among other noteworthy tracks is "The Goof and I" by Al Cohn.

By the way, the members of the formidable Four Brothers from the late '40s were Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward, tenors, and Serge Chaloff, baritone. The four horns heard on the original Tenor Conclave album were Coltrane, Sims, Al Cohn and Hank Mobley, an equally solid sax section.

This is a CD that proves nostalgia has value beyond just remembering the good old days.