Steve Davis, an excellent hard bop trombonist who is a successor style-wise of J.J. Johnson and Curtis Fuller, is in top form during his second Criss Cross CD as a leader. Once again Davis is teamed up with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, this time in a sextet with trumpeter Jim Rotondi, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Nat Reeves, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Davis contributed five of the nine songs (including "Payne's Window" for baritonist Cecil Payne), Alexander brought in the up-tempo romp "Trippin'," and the sextet also performs three standards (including "Detour Ahead" and "Summertime"). Davis, who deserves much greater recognition, shows that he is one of the top straight-ahead trombonists of the 1990s and blends in well with Rotondi and Alexander. Recommended.