Kenny Garrett STANDARD OF LANGUAGE (WARNER BROS.)

A lot of people play alto saxophone differently from Kenny Garrett, but I doubt there’s anyone playing it better. Garrett, an alumnus of the Miles Davis band, has a thick tone and a massive, assaultive solo style that takes as much from Coltrane as from Charlie Parker. As a leader, he has often mixed tracks of R&B-jazz electric fusion with progressive straight-ahead blowing. Standard of Language is an acoustic blowing session that proves he still has the toughest chops on the block. Cole Porter’s " What Is This Thing Called Love, " the only non-Garrett tune here, sets the agenda: taken at an extreme uptempo, with Garrett and the band immediately driving off into the stratosphere, and replete with a new harmonic construction, it’ll probably make you forget within a chorus that this is one of the hoariest standards in the book.

Besides speed, Garrett has full-mouth articulation, taking big round bites out of each note no matter what the velocity, and his harmonic reach means that those notes keep pouring out in unpredictable patterns. Pianist Vernell Brown is his equal — just listen to the way he runs alongside Garrett on the title track before taking off into his own solo. Garrett offers some variety with his soprano playing, the McCoy Tyner–like 6/8 " Kurita Sensei, " the easy, fusion-esque melody ( " Native Tongue " ), and the start-stop abstraction of " Gendai. " But in the end, the non-stop pyrotechnics could leave you burnt out.

(Kenny Garrett plays Scullers on April 22 and 23; call 617-562-4111.)