Last year, guitarist Mike Stern (1953) released a new album, Big Neighborhood. The list of talented colleagues cooperating on it was striking. With their status, fellow guitarists Steve Vai and Eric Johnson, singing bass players Esperanza Spalding and Richard Bona, drummers Dave Weckl, Terri Lyne Carrington and Cindy Blackman confirmed Stern's position. His current band members, trumpeter Randy Brecker and bassist Chris Minh Doky are also on the album. "Music is like a big neighborhood - a place where anything and everything can happen," according to Stern. You can't overlook someone who has played with the likes of Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Jaco Pastorius, Tom Harrell and David Sanborn, and with bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears and Steps Ahead. Stern can easily join the ranks of bands like the Yellowjackets.
