Alexander is a throwback to the halcyon days of hard-bop battle royals, when a man could walk into a club with a tenor saxophone and blow the house down. Just thirty-eight, Alexander knows how to stoke a barn-burning solo until the patrons are hollering even before the climaxes. But he also burnishes his supple, muscular tone with a tidy blend of intellect and curiosity that enables him to twist but not disfigure bop chestnuts and other jazz standards. And his apprenticeship with Memphis pianist Harold Mabern has provided him with a tangible grasp of the blues. By now his annual engagement at the AQ has become a calendar-date-circling event, made all the more so this time out by the possible inclusion of pianist David Hazeltine from Milwaukee. Artists’ Quarter, 408 St. Peter St., St. Paul; 651-292-1359.
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