Austria-born, NYC-based sax goddess Karolina Strassmayer has been recently heard to fine advantage in the recent bands of the great drum-meister Chico Hamilton (himself seen in the killer cult film The Sweet Smell of Success - rent it now!) and Bobby Sanabria - here, she gets to shine on her own with a program of straight-ahead meat n’ spuds hard bop. She has a HOT, sassy, Cannonball Adderley-type sound, rich, rollicking and touched by the essence of the blues, with touches of the acid-tongued tartness of the underrated Frank Strozier and early-60s Jackie McLean. She receives sturdy, earnest, swingin’ (if a bit "normal") support from her trio, and there’s a few guest shots from trumpeter Ray Vega and the ace trombone guy Wycliffe Gordon (on two tracks each), both fine mainstream bop fellows. Ms. KS also plays some lovely, wistful, poignant flute, too (recalling Eric Dolphy a wee bit), and her originals have a fresh, zesty, I've-been-waiting-all-my-life-for-this-shot zing. The only real drawback I can level at this otherwise quite-good longplayer is that for such a young musician, she doesn’t push the envelope enough. Not to imply she should rage like Peter Brotzmann or sear like John Zorn or anything like that, but hey, the bop did not stop in 1970, you dig? That said, if it’s the stuff of Straight-No Chaser Alto Legend you seek, if you toss back a tall cool one as a toast to celebrate the respective birthdays of Charles McPherson and Sonny Stitt, then go to your fave music emporium and shout Klaro! [Or seek online.]