Meat and potatoes straightahead jazz very finely steamed here from tenorist Grant Stewart. Tardo Hammer on piano stalks him relentlessly as he winds himself up and the heat reaches boiling point. Stewart has a scrabbling intensity that hooks you in and Hammer's solo when it comes is a tumble of ideas and suddenly you start listening to the drummer although he kicked things off right at the beginning.

At the kit it is Phil Stewart who is sprinting to keep up on 'Rise and Shine,' the title track, a Youmans and DeSylva song that Paul Whiteman introduced in the 1930s and John Coltrane more to the point included on Settin' The Pace' recording the number on 26 March 1958 at van Gelder's in Hackensack. Stewart chooses to begin in a higher key than Coltrane. This new Stewart record was made at Van Gelder's later studio in Englewood Cliffs. Inevitably a bass solo is going to show up given the nature of this type of jazz and Peter Washington again like Stewart has to keep his running shoes on.

The album, which features vocals on 'My Reverie', and such classic repertoire as Monk's 'Off Minor,' is out on Cellar Door in June. Photo of Grant Stewart, top, via Bandcamp.