Curtis Hasselbring heads up a couple of bands and on the spy-themed Number Stations he rubs them together and watches the sparks fly.

When Stan Killian came out with Unified a couple of years back, it didn’t knock me back in one certain way, it knocked me back in many ways. Killian brought a stout but sensitive tenor saxophone to compositions he crafted with canny detail, but also pleasing to the ear.

Combined with his own vast facility and adventurous spirit, stints with Steely Dan, Dave Holland, Paul Motian and most recently, Pat Metheny’s Unity Band have made Chris Potter one of the best known and accoladed saxophonists of his generation.

The Music of Tim Green from Boat Safety Films on Vimeo. We’ve chatted up the winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk saxophone competition a lot, and Jon Irabagon has managed to insert himself into a lot of vital jazz albums since his big win. You know, the guy who came in second isn’t so shabby, either.