Album of the Day

From its spare cover art and dueling saxophone concept, you might mistake APOGEE for a 1950s album, but the set was released in 1978 and shows seasoned vets Pete Christlieb and Warne Marsh swinging for the fences. Produced by Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, the Warner Bros. collection features an appealing mix of standards (like “I'm Old Fashioned” and the Charlie Parker favorite “Donna Lee”) and such new compositions as Christlieb's “Magna-Tism.” The two tenors are in dazzling form throughout, and the rest of the quintet rise to the challenge; as pianist Lou Levy later recalled of APOGEE, “I remember sitting there, playing behind them, and thinking, 'Man, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience; I may never again hear two virtuosos play with this much speed, authority, and soul.'” One of the unheralded gems of 1970s jazz.