GORDON BRISKER QUINTET – The Gift – CD – 86001-2

In listening to this music — four Gordon Brisker originals, one song apiece from pianists Mike Nock and Bill Cunliffe, an obscurity, and a reharmonized “I Got Rhythm” — it is difficult not to think of the mid-’60s Miles Davis Quintet in spots. Tenor saxophonist Brisker actually sounds closer to John Coltrane than Wayne Shorter, and trumpeter Tim Hagans has more power than Miles Davis did, but the complexity of the music and the democratic nature of the rhythm section’s role point toward that classic group.

Scott Yanow / AllMusic