Last Exit – Iron Path (ESP, 2015) ****

By Martin Schray

Iron Path is Last Exit’s only studio album and not only is it very different from their other (live) masterpieces like their debut Last Exit (Enemy, 1986) or Köln (ITM, 1990) but it is also completely different from almost all the other music at that time, which is why the listeners were confused. For rock aficionados there was too much free improv in it, for free jazz lovers there was too much prog rock. And even more than 25 years after the first release Iron Path is a mind-blowing, but strange album.

Last Exit has often been called a free jazz super group (with Sonny Sharrock on guitar, Peter Brötzmann on saxophones, Bill Laswell on bass and Ronald Shannon Jackson, on drums), yet this is not really correct. As a live act the band created a weird style mix of Sharrock’s harsh slide guitar rides, Laswell’s driving rock pulse, Jackson’s jungle grooves and Brötzmann just being the free jazz colossus we all love, which makes the music hard to categorize. If you had to pigeonhole it you might rather call it free rock. The sheer sonic brutality of their live shows only lurks below the surface on Iron Path, the slide guitar rides have been replaced by crude rock sounds á la King Crimson and Laswell’s bass is much more into industrial music and space funk/dub (listen to “The Fire Drum,” e.g.). Just Brötzmann seems to be defiant and unwilling to change, but his contributions are less prominent than on the live albums. Iron Path rather focuses on compositions, on real pieces, on dense and subtle preconceived textures. The chance to work with overdubs (as in “Sandpaper” with its multiple guitar tracks) offered new fields of tonal possibilities for the band. On the one hand this led to some weaker results like the cold reverb on the drums, which sound as if they were recorded in another room. On the other hand the band knocks out absolute highlights like “Prayer”, the first track, which presents a majestic, vertiginous, crystal clear Sharrock riff, while Jackson and Laswell drive Brötzmann in front of them, or “Eye for an Eye”, in which Brötzmann’s bass saxophone sets the tone for a satanic service – with the congregation consisting of die hard disciples like Sunn O))), Earth, Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn.

Last Exit have been the blueprint for bands like The Thing, for all the music working at the interface of jazz and experimental rock, for all those who try to bring together Big Black, Motörhead and Albert Ayler. In his book “Stairway to Hell – The Best 500 Heavy Metal Albums” Chuck Eddy ranked it #268 saying that “Sonny's making wild electronic noise as if he's vacuuming up fur left over from the last Ice Age. The album ends with the drummer repeatedly booting you in the teeth with steel-tipped construction-worker shoes. This is “jazz”, by the way”. No matter what you might call it, but it’s still worth checking it out.

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Daunik Lazro/Guillame Belhomme - Vieux Carré/Sales Rectangles (Lenka Lente, 2015) *****

By Eyal Hareuveni

A most beautiful and concise meditation by French baritone sax player Daunik Lazro and writer-musician-label owner Guillaume Belhomme on the formative roots of jazz and its influential heroes. On this 3" disc, 10 minutes long, recorded in the Jazz festival of Rouen, France, in 2011, Lazro reflects on some of the seminal compositions from legendary sax player Joe McPhee.

McPhee is a personal hero of Lazro and Belhomme. Lazro collaborated and recorded with McPhee, as a duo (Élan, Impulse, In Situ, 1991) and in expanded formats (the self-titled with Evan Parker, Vand'Oeuvre, 1996 and Next To You with Raymond Boni and Claude Tchamitchian, Emouvance, 2005).

Here he interprets the theme of McPhee's composition, "Vieux Carré", which refers to the French Quarter of New Orleans. The original composition was recorded by McPhee on his Graphics album in 1977 (HatHut) and later covered by Lazro in his solo baritone sax album, Some Other Zongs (Ayler, 2011). McPhee dedicated it to Steve Lacy's abstraction of New Orleans reed pioneer Sidney Bechet. Lazro add a short interpretation of the theme of "Everything Happens for a Reason," from McPhee's album with the same title (Roratorio, 2005). Lazro realization is contemplative, touching and highly melodic, rich and warm in its sound and makes full use of the resonating space. The work of a true master.

This release comes in a small book featuring Belhomme's own fragmented reflections (all in French) on the art of McPhee and Lazro.

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Mats Gustafsson – Lap Dance (iDEAL, 2014) ****

By Martin Schray

Lap Dance is a 7’inch consisting of two short solo performances recorded at Brooklyn Bar in Stockholm on 12/14/2011. The story behind it goes like this: Gustafsson was actually supposed to play a full concert but allegedly the people didn’t care much (according to the internet it was an audience of five plus some people at the bar), someone even spilled a full glass of beer over his merchandising stuff. In the back you can hear the bar people talking very loudly. At last, Gustafsson ended up at the head of the table of the interested listeners and played for them. Luckily, one of them recorded the stuff because “Lap Dance” and “Table Solos” are great pieces, they work as an almost ideal introduction to Gustafsson’s solo work. Although there are his usual outbursts the two tracks are very accessible, he soars in a very playful and light-hearted way.

Lap Dance is available on transparent vinyl only and limited to 200 copies.

Listen to “Table Solos” here:

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Rich Halley 4 – Creating Structure (Pine Eagle, 2015) ****

By Troy Dostert

Still a relatively unsung commodity based in Portland, the Rich Halley 4 have been creating adventurous yet groove-oriented recordings for several years—in fact, this is their fifth in five years on the Pine Eagle label, following up on last year’s excellent Wisdom of Rocks. And while it’s tempting to say that it’s “more of the same,” these guys have been in the sweet spot of freebop-based improvisation for long enough that sticking with what works is a pretty strong strategy.

The record is aptly titled, as each of the sixteen tracks displays a variety of ways in which a song’s logic can emerge during the exploration of an unplanned, uncharted path. Bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley are pivotal, as their ability to follow and lock in behind the horns offers structure, yes—but not so much structure that tenorist Halley and trombonist Michael Vlatkovich are restricted in their ability to seek out new options within each song. One can tell that Carson Halley has indeed been influenced by both the rock and jazz traditions, as his eagerness to bring a driving beat to a lot of the songs really enhances the group’s dynamic power. And Vlatkovich and Halley have a great rapport as well, alternately interweaving spontaneously-conceived lines and shadowing each other’s moves as they see fit. This definitely sounds like a band that has worked closely together for years, as their fluidity and intuition are evident on each cut. It’s also worth noting that these guys know when to enter and exit, without overstaying their welcome: with no track extending beyond seven minutes, and most a good deal shorter than that, there’s no pointless meandering. The overall effect on the listener is to want a bit more, which is a fine thing when the music is this good.

Highlights include the record’s opener, “Analog Counterpoint,” a bouncy, spirited piece featuring just Halley with the rhythm section; “Riding the Trade Winds,” where you can hear Halley channeling a bit of Newk’s “St. Thomas” with an infectious calypso-esque rhythm; “Metal Buzz,” offering a terrific unaccompanied dialogue between Halley and Vlatkovich; and “The Shove,” a propulsive burner with especially effective punchy drumwork from Carson Halley. But truthfully, there are engaging moments throughout the disc, as each track provides a distinctive and well-executed statement. Definitely a record worth getting!

Here’s a video of the quartet playing recently in New York City:

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Rudresh Mahanthappa - Bird Calls (ACT, 2015) ****½

By Antonio Poscic

Material dedicated to a jazz legend and the absence of master guitarist David Fiuczynski cast a shadow of doubt on whether New York-based saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa would be able to replicate the goodness that was his previous album Gamak. While he’s undeniably a great player and an eclectic songwriter, the artistic success of his records quite often depended on the quality of his cohorts. Plus, the prospect of yet another homage album just didn’t sound too inviting.

Superfluous and anachronistic hybrids of standards in newish arrangements, that’s what most “tribute” albums, especially in mainstream jazz, end up being. Not this time. Bird Calls is really good. While still clearly a love letter to Charlie Parker, his spirit embedded in many phrases, melodies, rhythms, and even in Mahanthappa’s energetic play style, the music is recognizably contemporary and the songs presented on the album are all originals which never dwell in the territory of the uninspired or lazy. Take “On the DL,” for example, a tune that demonstrates how Mahanthappa borrows just enough from Parker’s classic “Donna Lee” to jump-start an avalanche of aggressive, free-wheeling, and wild jazz that is sprinkled with explosive, lively solos, and fueled by a progressive, pulsing piano. The main tracks here all go down the route of deconstructing and analysing Parker’s music through the prism of modern jazz and Mahanthappa’s specific sensibilities and influences, with just a hint of humour and whimsy on the side. Other than the aforementioned “Donna Lee”, standouts are “Parker’s Mood”, which acts as a sort of bridge between Charlie Parker and Albert Ayler, and the extraordinary “Gopuram” with its typically Mahanthappian melodic and rhythmic spices imported from Indian ragga. Aside from these tracks and the likes of “Maybe Later” and “Sure Why Not?,” which come closest to the idioms of bop and traditional jazz in general, the record is held together by six miniatures. “Bird Calls #1-#5” and “Man, Thanks for Coming” serve as prologue, intermezzos, and epilogue, but also provide shorter pauses in the otherwise relentless flow, giving the musicians a chance for freer solo explorations and showcasing the band’s lyricism.

Speaking of the band, it features both well-known and fresh faces this time around. Alongside Mahanthappa, it’s young Adam O’Farrill’s trumpet and Rudy Royston’s drums that carry the album. Both these players leave an impression of knowing exactly what Mahanthappa requires and wants from them. On the other hand, we have Matt Mitchell on piano and François Moutin on bass who, while undeniably skilled, are never quite in the spotlight and remain rather subdued instead. Still, it’s Mahanthappa’s playing that steals the show. He’s a vigorous, tireless saxophonist with a swirly, effervescent, and extremely dynamic approach that results in a constant feeling that his saxophone might suddenly explode and detour towards Peter Brötzmann’s punk aesthetics. That jump never happens and he remains in equilibrium on the border of control, sounding mesmerizingly exciting and scintillating. It’s his playing that gives the music a recognizable and, frankly, hellishly fun tint.

When looking at Bird Calls as a whole, it becomes clear that Mahanthappa has succeeded in creating an album that is nominally dedicated to and inspired by Charlie Parker and yet feels quite his own. That alone would be something worth writing home about. Wholeheartedly recommended!

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Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord – Jeremiah (Hot Cup, 2015) ****

By Chris Haines

The music on Jeremiah is not so much of a Big Five Chord as much as a big seven. As well as the core quintet line-up of Jon Irabagon (Soprano Sax), Bryan Murray (Tenor/Alto Saxes), Moppa Elliott (Bass), Dan Monaghan (Drums) and Jon Lundbom (Guitar), they are joined by Justin Wood (Alto Sax) & Sam Kulik (Trombone). Even though the ensemble has expanded again, they have lost none of their classic Big Five Chord sound with full-on textures taking turns against more stripped back accompaniments, and fast free-bop tempos being usurped by laid back lounge vibes. We find that Lundbom’s guitar playing is as free and languid as ever, the sound of which is totally unique to himself.

The opening track “The Bottle” is half a march and a jog, full of energy in it’s brisk, but not overtly fast, pace containing some great playing from the whole ensemble, which Lundbom uses as a foil to launch a typical free and wandering guitar solo before giving way to some rasping sax playing. In fact, Lundbom gives way quite a lot on this album, allowing the horns to come to the front a lot more and not just collectively but also as soloists. Personally, I would have liked to have heard more of his guitar work up front on the album, but from a compositional point of view Lundbom has taken a very unselfish stance to the situation and has put the music first. “Lick Skillet” starts with what sounds like the drone of an aeroplane, but is in fact an extended technique on the trombone creating an interest that wasn’t expected, before a dancing flute picks up the vibe with some funky melodic playing. Two of the tracks are arrangements of Wiccan prayer songs, the idea first being introduced on Liverevil. The album closes with a live track “Screamer” with the guitar up front and rolling with it’s stream of consciousness playing, for the large part, pitted against the start-stop rhythmic accompaniment of bass and drums.

The musicianship on this album is excellent and the band are really together as you would expect. There are seven tracks on Jeremiah and not one of them is a filler, but every one of them is a grower!

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Je Suis - Ça Va? & Ça va pas du tout! (Umlaut, 2014)

Je Suis! - Ça Va? (Umlaut, 2014) ****½
Je Suis! - Ça va pas du tout! (Umlaut, 2014) *****

By Eyal Hareuveni

The Swedish sextet Je Suis!'s output so far is quite scarce in comparison to the brilliance and resourcefulness of its musicians. The sextet has released its debut album Mistluren in 2011 on the pan-European musicians collective label, Umlaut, and reconvened in 2013 to record new material, that later yielded two live albums, released on the same label.

Je Suis! is led by trumpeter Niklas Barnö, known from the free-improvised French-Swedish trio Snus, the Swedish modern jazz group Se&Hör, Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra, as well as being a new addition to Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit. The other musicians of Je Suis! are involved in different projects of the Umlaut label and all have busy, independent careers. Prolific trombonist Mats Äleklint has become a key player in almost every Scandinavian free jazz outfit, including the Fire! Orchestra and the Large Unit; double bass player Joel Grip is one of the founders of the Umlaut label and plays in the Fire! Orchestra and with Barnö in the Snus trio and records as a solo artist; Alexander Zethson plays in Martin Küchen’s Angels 9 and leads his own quartet; sax player Marcelo Gabard Pazos leads his own trio and drummer Magnus Vikberg collaborates with Küchen in other projects.

The two new albums correspond with each other. The LP Ça va pas du tout! (It is not going at all!) was recorded live at the Umeå Jazz Festival on October 26, 2013. Its title answers the question of the disc Ça va? (What is going on?) that was recorded two days later in Stockholm’s Fasching jazz club. Both albums feature new repertoire, most of it composed by Barnö. His well-crafted and arranged compositions emphasize the unique group dynamics of Je Suis!, a group whose whole aesthetic is larger than the sum of its individual musicians. He is well-versed with the myriad incarnations of modern and free jazz on both sides of the Atlantic but his perspective is not nostalgic nor academic. He focuses on the uplifting emotional, even spiritual, power of live music.

The two performances progress in the same manner, with minor variations in the piece's mood, tough the one in Fasching sounds more energetic. Both albums begin with the ironic-titled “Bebopaluba”. Its theme is articulated patiently as a meditative chant by the front line of the three reed players, slowly enriched by the rhythm section but does not attempt to replicate any be-bop licks, even when it gains full force. On both versions it feature expressive, fiery solos of Äleklint and Barnö. Now it is already clear that Je Suis! draws its inspiration from the American free jazz of the sixties, but channels this legacy into its own musicians personal languages, keeping the driving-swinging pulse but structuring its immediate, raw interplay in a much more improvised and open manner. The following, “Ända In I Kaklet”, highlights the powerful, rhythmic interplay of the sextet through fast, concise solos of Grip, Zethson, Pazos and Vikberg. The third piece, “Onödig Stress”, offers another beautiful theme that is sketched loosely by Je Suis! until it blossoms in cathartic power. Both performances conclude with the playful, ballad-like “Se Och Hör”, beginning with a piano solo of Zethson, continuing with his duo with Barnö and another duo of Pazos and Vikberg, before the whole sextet recites the moving, poetic theme in a majestic manner.

The performance in the Fasching club feature two more compositions, played before “Se Och Hör”. Barnö’s chaotic “Idioti? Tackarrr!” that alternates between fast reed fanfares and muscular, rhythmic group interplay, with another fascinating solo of Äleklint. It is followed by Zethson’s Åt alla håll på samma gång” that begins as a slow, touching ballad but transforms into a joyful, swinging peace.

Despite the albums titles, the music goes very well with this excellent band. Strongly recommended.

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Kris Davis’s Infrasound – Save Your Breath (Clean Feed, 2015) ****½

By Troy Dostert

In what is becoming a formidable series of recordings, Kris Davis continues to demonstrate her strengths not only as a pianist but as a composer.  She did this to great effect on last year’s Waiting for You to Grow, an outstanding trio record with John Hébert and Tom Rainey - and once again with this disc, her newest release.  Indeed, this one is even more impressive, as Davis has expanded her compositional vision with one of the more unusual groupings of instruments I can recall hearing.  Here she’s working with an octet, which includes (in addition to Davis) a rhythm section of Jim Black (drums), Gary Versace (organ and accordion), and Nate Radley (guitar), and perhaps most surprisingly, four bass clarinets, played by Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, Andrew Bishop and Joachim Badenhorst.

What is clear from the outset is that this is a record built around atmosphere and mood rather than instrumental virtuosity.  Which is not to say that any of these players are slouches—far from it—but that Davis has much bigger things in mind than a blowing session.  Each of these six tracks has a distinctive feel and sense of purpose, and while there’s ample room for the musicians to pursue a few twists and turns along the way, it’s abundantly evident that Davis has intentionally constructed these pieces in order to forge a collective sound for each one, although in dramatically different ways from track to track.

The album’s opener, “Union Forever,” develops an infectious series of patterns played principally by the clarinets, with Black, Radley and Versace keeping the rhythms shifting unpredictably, finally moving into a more straightforward 4/4 segment for the second half of the tune in which Versace really lets loose.  Several of the tracks make especially good use of Black’s rock-inflected drumming style, which often works to establish a groove and ratchet up the intensity level of the group.

But although the record definitely delivers some hard-hitting punches, it’s often the more subtle moments that are most effective, particularly because here Davis gets to explore the rich sonority and textures this unusual blend of instruments makes available.  The beginning of “Jumping Over Your Shadow,” for example, the record’s second cut, has some really interesting interplay between the bass clarinets, creating a sense of dark mystery to pull the listener in, only to gradually evolve into a more aggressive, confrontational mood once Black starts to interject on the drum kit and Versace joins in with some effective piercing jabs.  And the most interesting cut of all is probably the record’s title track, an almost 15-minute exploration of sound and mood in which Versace employs his understated, atmospheric organ work.  It evokes the album’s cover photo perfectly, as the sense of discovery and hint of danger accompanying a deep-sea dive is exactly what the track provides.  And when Radley, Davis and the others gradually enter the picture, expanding the sense of wonder and the unexpected, the result is captivating.

Davis has summarized her view of this group as a “living, breathing wild animal,” and given the musicians’ willingness to work cohesively to create a single group identity and to regularly go in unexpected directions, that’s an apt analogy.  This record will no doubt continue to build Davis’s growing reputation as one of the most exciting composers working in today’s music, and the group as a whole is certainly deserving of the accolades that should come its way.    

Available from Instantjazz.

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Jack DeJohnette - Made in Chicago (ECM, 2015) *****

By Paul Acquaro

Following a week of retrospective reviews of exemplary AACM recordings, it seemed a fitting coda to talk about this great new album from drummer Jack DeJohnette and otherwise Chicago related musicians, saxophonists Henry Threadgill and Roscoe Mitchell, pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and cellist Larry Gray.

For the most part, the members of this group has been a part of all the new approaches to jazz since the mid-1960s and one way to see this recording is as a reaffirmation of their gifts as composers, players and musical visionaries. Another way is to see it as a celebration of Jack DeJohnette reconnecting with his friends with whom he played, aged 19, in Abrams' Experimental Band in Chicago.

In the mid-1960s, DeJohnette moved to New York City, while most of his collaborators here - Threadgill, Mitchell, and Abrams - went on to the AACM. Adding cello and bass here is Larry Gray who has been an influential member of the Chicago scene. Brought together by DeJohnette to perform at a show at Millennium Park in August 2013, the resulting album, captured live, sounds pristine and vibrant. The excitement and energy of the concert is caught, as is their precision and exceptional musicianship.

The recording starts with the Mitchell composition 'Chant', which starts quietly and builds into a cyclical tune with a repetitive chant of horns, punctuated by the piano. Then, a solo by Abrams the favor is returned by the saxophones who deliver snippets of the 'chant'. Halfway through, a piercing woodwind delivers a reedy solo that veers inside and out of the lines. Parrying with the drums, tension mounts as the others drop out. It's a highly effective track and an indicator of the quality of music to follow.

Another early highlight is Abrams' 'Jack 5', composed as a tribute to the drummer who brought the group together. The track burns slowly, with DeJohnette's impressionistic percussion providing the backbone where he plays with the time, masterfully stretching out sections. Gray's bass builds the tension that underscores the more delicate melodic snippets that come and go. The Threadgill penned 'Leave Don't Go Away' comes to life with a slightly sinister vibe. It is a thick mix of drum and bass with feature some fascinating flute work - in fact there is a late 1960's fusion vibe to the intro groove. Abrams' piano is present almost throughout and his playing is delightfully angular. The woodwind solo towards the end has some sharp edges.

Through the tracks there is a great deal of energy and surprise that is executed with a masterful touch. A collective improvisation called 'Ten Minutes' closes the recording. It begins with a repetitive pattern from the piano, quickly joined by the two saxophones, circular and buzzing with energy, the song rumbles along for a joyful six minutes.

Made in Chicago is a beautifully recorded album and helps celebrate the continuing vitality of the AACM 50 years after its founding by showcasing some of its founding members.

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The Monash Art Ensemble - Hexis (Jazzhead, 2014) *****

By Stefan Wood

In 2013 the musician, composer and professor George Lewis collaborated with the Monash Art Ensemble at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music of Monash University. The album Hexis was the result, released by Jazzhead in 2014. Comprised of only four tracks, Hexis is an outstanding album, a mixture of jazz and classical, composed and improvised. The sixteen piece ensemble, led by pianist Paul Grabowsky, sounds larger than their numbers suggest; the music feels massive and powerful. Lewis himself joins the group, working on electronics but also returning to his original primary instrument, the trombone.

The album is littered with staccato rhythms and circular phrases; the tracks "Fractals" and "Triangle" at the beginning and the end of the album feature these ideas. "Fractals" starts with a tense, swirling wave of notes from the horns, that rises and falls like a choppy tide. "Triangle" is the repetitive striking of a triangle that is imaginatively echoed and improvised upon by the ensemble, a rollicking exploration of rhythm and sound created by a deceptively simple and timid percussive instrument. The highlight track is "Angry Bird," a fifteen minute heavyweight work that, frankly, I thought referenced Charlie Parker and the popular smart phone app, but apparently is a tribute to clarinetist David Rothenberg, who authored the book Why Birds Sing (later made into a BBC documentary). It does have furious moments of saxophone interplay, but also amusing electronic bird calls, like cartoon vultures. But it also demonstrates skillful improvisation within a framed structure, moments that are allowed to develop, then pull back, cleanly and with great attention to detail. And that is what is most striking throughout, a high level of intellect that does not feel heavy handed. Compositions that are well structured, but allows for spontaneity. And it is fun to listen. Also of note is that the Ensemble is comprised of mostly students, but one would never guess, given the level of execution.

Hexis is a masterful album, and gets my highest recommendation.

Available from Instantjazz.

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Henry Threadgill Zooid – In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi Recordings, 2015) ****

By Chris Haines

I have always found Henry Threadgill’s music very well orchestrated, well thought through from a compositional sense, and yet containing the immediacy and excitement of first class jazz improvisation. Although having a jazz pedigree (among his past accomplishments is his association with the AACM and work with the group Air) Threadgill’s music contains a compositional rigorousness and discipline that can be found in much classical avant-garde music. That’s not to say that Threadgill writes in a similar style to composers from this genre or that the pieces he writes should be considered to be in this twentieth century compositional style, although at times there are similarities. However, the music on this album is clearly jazz, and you can hear it quite distinctly in the rhythmic interplay, the swung beats, the phrasing, the articulation of notes and most importantly in the group improvisation that is at the very heart of Threadgill’s compositional approach.

Utilising different combinations of instruments is something that clearly interests Threadgill as a band leader and throughout his solo career he has put together some intriguing ensembles, a good example of this being Very Very Circus with it’s platform of two tubas and two guitars. However, Zooid seems to be his band of choice at present and has been for well over ten years, the line-up consisting of Liberty Ellman – guitar, Jose Davila – trombone & tuba, Christopher Hoffman – cello, Elliott Kavee – drums, and Henry Threadgill – flute & saxophone. With the use of acoustic guitar, cello, and tuba this creates a chamber ensemble type feel to the group, which in turn lends an intimacy to the pieces on offer.

As a double disc there are six pieces on In For A Penny, In For A Pound with four of them having a highlighted soloist, so there’s one for drums and percussion, one for cello, another for tuba & trombone, and one for guitar. To stretch the link with classical avant-garde chamber music further it seems that each track could be likened to a concerto for each of the solo instruments mentioned, although there are other soloists within each of the pieces as well. These pieces are quite long, with clearly defined sections, and last between fifteen to twenty minutes each. There are also two shorter tracks, which open each of the discs. The album starts with the title track, whilst the drums and tuba provide the trace of a funky rhythm section the rest of the ensemble provides a multi-coloured carpet of sound which is made up of individual fragments from each instrument that blend into a coherent whole. This sets the tone for the whole album where abstract grooves rub shoulders with more arhythmic sections, particularly where the drums break from providing the momentum and pointillistic textures give way to more static and sparser sections within the music. In fact, it is this movement between the jazzier syncopated rhythms and the more avant-garde chamber music sections which provides much of the structural contrasts for the works included on In For A Penny, In For A Pound.

This is a quality product from one of the best jazz composers creating relevant and intriguing music in the world today. With over an hour and a quarter’s worth of music on this release it would seem that the album is also aptly titled.


Available from Instantjazz.

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50 Years of AACM: 2005-2015

This is the last installment of the AACM retrospective - a highly subjective, entirely personal, and completely non-representative list of albums plucked from our own collections to represent what the recordings of the AACM and it's musicians have meant to us as enthusiasts of the music. Today, the years between 2005 to 2015.

Note: a big thank you everyone who made this happen, it takes a collective! Thanks to Stef and Matthew for the inspiration to celebrate the occasion of the AACM's 50th anniversary, and to Colin and Martin, who gave us a great (re)introduction to The AACM (thanks for letting me tag along - PA).

By Colin Green, Martin Schray, Matthew Grigg, Paul Acquaro, Stef Gijssels

Fred Anderson - Blue Winter (Eremite, 2005)

Fred Anderson was one of the key figures in free jazz in Chicago for the past decades and a founding member of AACM. Many albums by him can be recommended, yet this one is quite exceptional, not only because of Anderson's playing, but also because of the phenomenal and very inspired rhythm section of William Parker on bass and Hamid Drake on drums. The "lone prophet of the prairie" as Anderson was called demonstrates his great narrative skills on tenor for a full two disc set, for a little less than two hours of music - for just four tracks. Anderson can just keep going, with his strong rhythmic and fluid phrasing, his wonderful tone and great sense of melodic inventiveness and focus. And then this in the company of Parker and Drake : this is sheer magic! And all three musicians have as much fun as the listeners. (SG)

Frequency - Frequency (Thrill Jockey, 2006)

Given the increasing disparate nature of the AACM, that Frequency is comprised of an all member band five decades in speaks volumes for the Association's continued importance and contribution. Moving through soulful grooves to heated free blowing, Edward Wilkerson, Nicole Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead and Avreeayl Ra all double on a variety of instruments which ensures a rich sonic palette, and inevitably gives rise to Art Ensemble comparisons. However, at their most cohesive they present a meditative and spiritual approach not dissimilar in intent to the early 70's work of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. (MG)

George E Lewis - Sequel (for Lester Bowie) (Intakt, 2006)

An early exponent of computer music and electronics, particularly as pertaining to 'creative music', here Lewis leads an electro-acoustic octet through one lengthy composed piece and three shorter improvisations. The multinational ensemble comprised of Guillermo E. Brown, Ulrich Muller, Siegfried Rossert, Miya Masaoka, Kaffe Matthews, DJ Mutamassik and Jeff Parker realise the former brilliantly, an intricately woven tapestry of kaleidoscopic sounds, expertly dovetailed, delivered with a poise deserving of the composition's beauty. The following freely improvised pieces demonstrate just how simpatico the ensemble are without a compositional framework to guide them, time and again finding cohesion within the most oblique sound strategies. (MG)

Roscoe Mitchell - Composition/Improvisation Nos 1, 2 & 3 (ECM, 2007)

In a career full of what are now regarded as 'classic recordings' and 'master works', the majesty of Roscoe Mitchell's later output is in danger of being overlooked as commentators (rightly) heap praise on earlier recordings. Here with his Transatlantic Art Ensemble, on paper and in practice, a 14 piece improvising dream team of Evan Parker, Anders Svanoe, John Rangecroft, Neil Metcalfe, Corey Wilkes, Nils Bultmann, Philipp Wachsmann, Marcio Mattos, Craig Taborn, Jaribu Shahid, Barry Guy, Tani Tabbal and Paul Lytton, Mitchell's scored improvisations yield a recording full of deep beauty and rich harmonic complexity which numbers amongst the finest examples of genuine 'third stream' music, an approach central to the AACM's early aesthetic. Ranging from chamber like solemnity, through deftly swung passages, what could so easily become crowded is full of space and poise, tension and silence, a recording that bares all the hallmarks of Mitchell's approach as far back as Sound, and is richly deserving of the same reverence. (MG)

Matana Roberts - Chicago Project (Central Control International, 2007)

Roberts' current Coin Coin project is such a significant body of work it may almost certainly eclipse fine recordings she has released by smaller group aggregations, notably on the two LPs issued with trio Sicks And Stones, and here - a quartet date with Jeff Parker, Joshua Abrams and Frank Rosaly. Joined by Fred Anderson on 3 of the 9 tracks (all of which are spiralling horn duets), the Chicago Project bristles from the off with beautiful lines, smart interplay and energetic group investigation. Chicago's musical heritage is referenced throughout in the thematic material, marked by repeated stylistic and musical shifts which serve to both reference the city's lineage, and demonstrate the breadth of scope of Roberts' creative drive.  (MG)

Mike Reed's People, Places, Things - About Us (482 Music, 2009)

The second installment of People, Places Things finds the quartet of Reed, Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman and Jason Roebke joined by David Boykin, Jeb Bishop and Jeff Parker on one track apiece, each musician contributing compositions to the recording. Knowingly backward looking (the project was devised to shine light on critically under-appreciated inspirations of Reed's from late '50's Chicago), whilst the recording is clearly in thrall to the past it is never in deference to the limitations of established conventions, and continually seeks to expand on the potential of past ideas. Bop(s), of all kinds, are re-imagined with lessons learn after the fact, resulting in something both grounded in the past yet thoroughly modern, the kind of smart thinking record that Jazz at Lincoln Centre could easily produce we they not beholden to the restrictive yoke of past greatness. (MG)

Douglas R. Ewart  & Inventions- Velvet Fire (Aarawak, 2010)

Dedicated to (Baba) Fred Anderson, much like its dedicatee, first generation AACM member Ewart is sadly under documented on recordings. Captured live at the Velvet Lounge, what Velvet Fire lacks in fidelity is more than compensated by the joyous and effervescent performance. A star studded/AACM member filled line-up of Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson, LeRoy Wallace McMillan, Wadada Leo Smith, Jeff Parker, Mankwe Ndosi, Duriel Harris, Dee Alexander, Tatsu Aoki, Darius Savage, Dushun Mosley, Vincent Davis and Hamid Drake move through a diverse range of material, vocal numbers punctuating blues, insistent driving hard-bop and more experimental full band investigations, the latter providing the album's high points. Depending on personal taste this could be something of a mixed bag, but it is never less than solid - at times excellent and enlightening snapshot of the AACM at 45. (MG)

Nicole Mitchell - Awakening (Delmark Records, 2011)

The AACM's first female president, Mitchell is first rate in every setting but on this quartet date the instrumental balance allows her flute the space often denied it in more congested groupings. Leading an all AACM band featuring Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead and Avreeayl Ra, they move seamlessly from harmonically galvanized group work, through the musical margins into wispy fragments of sound, with a consummate ease demonstrative of top rate musicians with a deep faith and understanding of one another. Melodic sophistication and textural detail permeate a recording of robust group invention and daring, sophisticated fragility.  (MG)

Chicago Trio - Velvet Songs - To Baba Fred Anderson (RogueArt, 2011)

The Chicago Trio is Ernest Dawkins on sax, Harrison Bankhead on bass and cello, and Hamid Drake on drums and frame drum. The double CD presents a live gig performed a year before Fred Anderson passed away, yet even then, the performance was already a tribute to him. Both Bankhead and Drake played a lot with the legendary Chicagoan and owner of the Velvet Lounge, and although Dawkins and Anderson also performed together, to my knowledge none of that is available on record.

In any event, this album is really excellent: a deep dive into jazz history by one of the best sax trios you can find, with Drake offering all kinds of rhythmic playfulness, ranging from a funky "When The Saints Go Marchin' In" with Dawkins on two saxes, reggae on "Jah Music", to weird modern work-outs on "Galaxies Beyond". As I told Drake once, his playing sounds like dancing in paradise, and that's also the case on this album. Bankhead is phenomenal too, also on cello on what is possibly the best track of the album, the long "Moi Trè Gran Garçon". The precision of his tone, including bowed, is fantastic, as are his improvisations.

Dawkins is an ensemble man, and it must be said that he give the trio lots of space, yet he is also a great front man, very lyrical and melodic, also in his improvisations, with jazz and blues traditions never far away, yet sufficiently free in his approach to make this album an easy one to recommend for readers of this blog, moving listeners from joy to sadness to spirituality to world empathy and back. The kind of free jazz Baba Fred Anderson would have enjoyed. A great tribute to a great musician. (SG)

Matana Roberts: COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres / COIN COIN Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile / COIN COIN Chapter Three: River Run Thee (Constellation, 2011 - 2015)

Although the AACM members have always released very good albums it seemed that the organization has more recently lost some of its musical and socio-cultural importance (especially compared to the 1960s and 70s). And then Matana Roberts started her Coin Coin project and put the AACM back in the spotlight again! Coin Coin was announced as a conceptual project in twelve chapters, including notation and free improvisation, historical storytelling, theatrical elements, Roberts’ grandfather’s poetry, field recordings and samples with which she would explore African-American history, culture and life as well as family history during the last 300 years. (The series’ protagonist is Marie Thérèse Metoyer – also known as Coin Coin – a freed slave, doctor, planter and business woman.) The first three chapters range from music for up to 15 musicians (Chapter 1), to a quintet plus opera singer (Chapter 2) and a solo recording (Chapter 3). Coin Coin is an ambitious, almost monstrous endeavor that could have failed terribly – but the results so far belong to the most interesting and exciting jazz albums of the last ten years. (MS)

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50 Years of AACM: 1995-2004

The AACM retrospective week continues today with our highly subjective, entirely personal, and completely non-representative list of albums plucked from our own collections to represent what the recordings of the AACM and it's musicians have meant to us as enthusiasts of the music. Today, we present the years between 1995 and 2004.

By Colin Green, Martin Schray, Matthew Grigg, Paul Acquaro, Stef Gijssels

Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble -- Chicago Now - Thirty Years Of Great Black Music Vols.1 & 2 (Silkheart , 1995)

Ernest Dawkins was a neighbour of Anthony Braxton as a youth and remembers hearing him practise. Having survived that, perhaps unsurprisingly he first took up bass and drums before eventually deciding on the saxophone in 1973. He studied with members of the AACM, and replaced Ed Wilkerson in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (Papa’s Bounce (CIMP, 1998) is toe-tappingly good).

In 1979 Dawkins formed his own New Horizons Ensemble which played extensively for a number of years, and it shows. This pair of albums celebrated thirty years of the AACM back in 1995, but since good music doesn’t date they deserve a place in this half-century batch of reviews.

As one would expect, there are some infectious rhythms but with plenty of fluid playing on top, In true AACM style however, Dawkins refuses to be pigeon-holed. There are three improvisations – of which Improvisation #3 is the longest, and best – and Flowers for the Soul contains a coruscating free jazz solo from Dawkins, accompanied by Jeff Parker’s spiky guitar.

The highlights however, are two tributes. Dream for Rahsaan (presumably, Roland Kirk) a languorous tune – beautifully voiced by the Ensemble -- with crafted solos from Ameen Muhammad on trumpet, Dawkins and Parker Any doubt about the subject of Many Favors is removed by the bass introduction and an occasional Art Ensemble feel, including hand bells and whistles. Again, a theme of aching beauty treated with sensitivity by the whole Ensemble.

To hear more of Dawkins in a free jazz vein, there’s no better way to spend a couple of hours than soaking up the Chicago Trio’s Velvet Songs to Baba Fred Anderson (Rogueart, 2011) (CG)

Fred Anderson, Marilyn Crispell, Hamid Drake – Destiny (Okka Disk, 1996)

Anderson played on some early AACM albums, but due to other commitments recordings didn’t appear until the late 1970s, and then relatively few until the last twenty years or so of his life. There are even fewer recordings of him with a piano. In this performance, the established duo of Anderson (tenor saxophone) and Drake (drums, percussion) joined Marilyn Crispell (piano) – on her request – at the Women of New Music Festival held in Chicago in 1994.

Anderson believed strongly in preserving a tradition, keeping a musical culture alive, and regarded his music as an extension of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker, the saxophonists of his youth and “the AACM of their time”. It can be heard in the warmth of his tone and the supremely articulate nature of his playing – free jazz, not random. He had a repertoire of short tunes – he thought of them more as phrases – which tended to form the basis of his improvisations and in this performance, one of his most memorable provides the theme on which each of the Destiny variations is based: sprightly and tender by turns. We get Crispell’s familiar staccato clusters and darting runs in Destiny 1, but Anderson brings out the melodic invention that’s always characterised her playing. Destiny 3 is pure ballad, and in Destiny 5 we reach the emotional core of the performance when the theme takes on a Coltrane-esque grandeur, with Anderson’s tenor suspended over Crispell’s tremolos. Time stands still. After rapturous applause, he shows he can deconstruct a tune along with the best.

Drake as always, ensures that everything flows as smoothly as possible, a standout moment being his tabla accompaniment when Crispell reaches inside the piano. The only downside is that the piano’s seen better days.

If you like Fred and a piano, also try the first CD of Muhal Richard Abrams’ SoundAspects (Pi Recordings, 2011): two co-founders of the AACM spurring each other on to ever greater heights. It’s inspirational. (CG)

Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy The Odyssey of Funk & Popular Music (Atlantic, 1999)

I recall buying this one when I was on a brass band kick back in the late 90s. At the time I knew nothing about Lester Bowie or the AACM but I did know about the Spice Girls and when I heard Bowie's formidable arrangement of '2 becomes 1' on WBGO, I think I nearly cried. Just how, I thought, has he found the song that I just heard in that sliver of processed cheese? So, I went to the local record store (yes, the good ol' days) and picked up the CD and proceeded to really enjoy the rest of it as well - from the smokey  'Birth of the Blues' to the percussive menace of Marilyn Manson's 'Beautiful People'. Aside from some of the period production, two tracks with dated sounding rap, and those occasional bar chimes, it's still a bright spot in my collection. Bowie's music transcended - hell it elevated - the source material, even 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' had some decent moments.  (PA)

Kahil El' Zabar's Ritual Trio - Africa N’Da Blues (Delmark, 2000)

It is difficult to make a selection of all the dozen albums that Kahil El'Zabar released with his Ritual Trio or with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Usually his music is pretty straight-forward with a core theme, long improvisations, lots of African rhythmic elements, and a deep sense of soul. "Africa N'Da Blues" might be a good introduction for readers not yet familiar with the master drummer. The "trio" is for once extended with some guests : El'Zabar is on drums and percussion, Malachi Favors on bass and Ari Brown on sax and piano. The guests are Pharoah Sanders on tenor and Susana Sandoval on vocals, on the beautiful "Africanos Latinos" only.

The nice thing about El'Zabar's music is that it never shocks, it is never wild or ferocious, yet it does color outside of the lines. There is even some place for "Autumn Leaves" on this album, yet "Ka-Real" and "Pharaoh's Song" are more in line with the Trio's other albums : a hypnotic rhythmic foundation for African chants and saxes to sing, dance and jubilate with the soul of life.  (SG)

Wadada Leo Smith - Golden Quartet (Tzadik, 2000)

Apart from almost systematically receiving 5-star ratings from me, the only common denominator in Wadada Leo Smith's music is his phenomenal trumpet-playing. He has many different approaches to music, with his "bitches brew style" Yo Miles! band, his more contemplative solo and duo works, his more ambitious recent works with strings. Here we have his Golden Quartet in its original line-up with Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, Anthony Davis on keyboards, Maghostut Malachi Favors on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums, with all four musicians member of AACM or closely related in the case of DeJohnette. The instrumental quality of the four musicians allows for technical and compositional complexity, which will become the trademark of the quartet for all their output, but luckily they keep their distance from fusion-like pyrotechnics: it's all about the music, which has an amazing tension between nervous agitation and zen-like calm, with lots of other paradoxes such as a strong jazzy feel, yet avant-garde dynamics and sonic colors, such as a strong compositional structure with an overall sense of freedom in the execution. (SG)

Matana Roberts, Josh Abrams & Chad Taylor - Sticks & Stones (482 Music, 2002)

This is one of the first albums - if not the first - on which altoist Matana Roberts has the lead voice, with Josh Abrams on bass and Chad Taylor on drums. It is a very gentle and welcoming trio album, one which already has the sound of Roberts' later music : warm and buttery on the horn, full of respect for the musical tradition, yet sufficiently liberated and with sufficient character to push things a little bit further.

Roberts had been classically trained as a clarinettist, joined AACM and was (is?) a member of Burnt Sugar, the jazz-funk-soul-rock band. On this album, and on "Shed Grace", its sequel from 2006, we hear something completely different : melodious music, very jazzy, rhythmically superb and very unassuming. It does not have the ambition of Roberts' "Coin Coin" series, it is all about the music, and not about the message, which gets my preference. Many will contradict me here, but so be it. If you like Roberts and Abrams and Taylor, it's really worth looking up this trio album.  (SG)

Fred Anderson - Back at the Velvet Lounge (Delmark, 2003)

An AACM member from the outset, it took time before Anderson received anything like the exposure of his colleagues. He went largely under/un-documented until his later years, subsequently every recording he features on feels like a gift. On Back at the Velvet Lounge, recorded at the club he ran for several decades, he is joined by Maurice Brown, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Tatsu Aoki and Chad Taylor as they navigate five blues-tinged Anderson originals. With a tone simultaneously suggestive of both sides of the '59 divide, Anderson inhabits a space which is seemingly both well defined but boundless in potential, shaped by bop conventions and freed by the avant-garde.  (MG)

Jeff Parker, Kevin Drumm, Michael Zerang - Out Trios Volume Two (Atavistic, 2003)

In a recent article the Chicago Tribune made the case for the AACM having influenced the city's avant-rock community. Out Trios Volume Two provides a compelling argument in favour of this position, and demonstrates the feedback between disciplines. (Associate) AACM member Jeff Parker, positioned firmly in both camps, reprises his relationship with Michael Zerang (Vega Trio) and is joined by electro-acoustic texturalist Kevin Drumm. The resultant recording is filled with post-AMM clatter, gritty timbres and extended techniques, the lines between contributors quite literally blurred and distorted. Whilst insular and focused, the album demonstrates the open exchange of sounds and approaches which exist in the margins of differing 'Avant' musical communities. (MG)

Ernest Dawkins - Mean Ameen (Delmark, 2004) 

Despite saxophonist Ernest Dawkins' long experience as a jazz musician, he has not released that many albums under his own name. He is former president of Chicago's AACM and member of several bands including Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Yet most of his records are of interest, and this one, "Mean Ameen" is one I keep putting back in my CD-player very regularly. It's more free bop than free jazz, all pieces have a clear compositional structure and fixed themes. But all that's irrelevant. What is relevant is the music itself. And it's awesome. Blues-drenched, heart-rending, swinging highly rhythmic music with fantastic improvizations by the whole band, which consists of Maurice Brown on trumpet, Steve Berry on trombone, Darius Savage on bass and Isaiah Spencer on drums. The album is a tribute to former "New Horizons Ensemble" trumpeter Ameen Muhammad, also known as "King Ameen", who died in 2003.

Now, the great thing about this album is it's hard to equal heart-energy-music continuum. The raw emotions and the unbridled energy resulting in this great rhytmic and musical feast, sad and joyful at the same time, have rarely been equalled. Every track on the album is great, but the absolute highlight is the last one, "Buster And The Search For The Human Genome", which is a 16-minute long rhythmic monster of a song, starting slowly and bluesy but gradually the tempo is speeding up to some break-neck velocity, with staccato unisono blowing by the horns, fierce soloing, with abrupt and sudden breaks, nothing more than a pause for breathing, when the whole monster gets back on top-speed, dragging the listener along to musical areas where everything is possible. Impossible to remain indifferent. This is not a record which will change the history of jazz, but it is the result of it : authentic, creative, rooted in tradition yet free as a bird. As the liner notes say : "King Ameen is smiling from up high". (SG)

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50 Years of AACM: 1985-1994

The AACM retrospective week continues with our highly subjective, entirely personal, and completely non-representative list of albums plucked from our own collections to represent what the recordings of the AACM and it's musicians have meant to us as enthusiasts of the music. Today, the years between 1985 and 1994.

By Colin Green, Martin Schray, Matthew Grigg, Paul Acquaro, Stef Gijssels

Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy: I Only Have Eyes for You (ECM, 1985)

Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy’s debut album is a deliberate provocation. The band, a nonet consisting of four trumpets, two trombones, a French horn, tuba and drums, displays Bowie’s love for pop music while clearly being in the jazz tradition. And on top of it all the album is released on ECM, a label that is famous for its clean, glacial, some even say soulless sound. The result could have been a disaster – but it is just the opposite. The band is extremely cool and tight (especially Bob Stewart on tuba, Steve Turre on trombone and Philip Wilson on drums), the sound is full of emotional depth and the selection of the tracks – from The Flamingo’s doo wop classic “I Only Have Eyes For You” to Bob Stewart’s majestic and uplifting “Nonet” – take the concept of Ancient to the Future to the next level because in spite of the pop approach the music breathes the spirit of gospel and blues. If you need just one example listen to Lester Bowie’s “Coming Back, Jamaica”, one of the best reggae tracks ever, which is dominated by the mother of all tuba solos. One of my all-time-favorite albums! (MS)

Kahil El' Zabar - The Ritual (Sound Aspects, 1986)

This is actually the first CD by Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, although not yet named as such. In essence this trio consists for two thirds of members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago : Lester Bowie (trumpet) and Malachi Favors (bass), who play one of their own songs, Magg Zelma (from Full Force, 1980) on this album. This is just one song, but still close to 42 minutes long. This music has deep SOUL, sensitive, solemn, intense, open, authentic, respectful. One of the most beautiful and compelling trumpet-bass-drums trios ever.

The artwork of this album should not be confused with the album "Sacred Love", released two years later and with Raphael Garrett on clarinet.  (SG)

 Anthony Braxton - Six Monk's Compositions (1987)

Thelonious Monk's unique compositions have been the inspiration for many composers and players and so while it is little surprise that Braxton would be drawn to his music, it was a surprise to me how irreverently (but respectfully) interpreted they are on this album. Though Braxton speeds them up, fleshes them out, and deepens them harmonically - you still hear all the those wonderfully Monkish melodies. However, where you heard the puzzling juxtapositions in Monk's versions, laid out like bare bold puzzles, here they seem like the blueprints for what Braxton builds on top of them. Monk's stride playing is still present in pianist Mal Waldron's solo on 'Four in One' and one can only marvel at Braxton's inspiring playing on the opening 'Brilliant Corners' and, really, throughout the recording. Rounding out the group here is bassist Buell Neidlinger, and drummer Bill Osborne.  (PA)

Henry Threadgill - Easily Slip Into Another World (1987)

On Easily Slip into Another World, saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill arranges a sextet recording that is a mix of styles both mainstream and avant-garde. It was one of his three albums on the Novus label - a late 1980’s production, which you can tell simply from the fonts on the album cover. Threadgill is joined here by trumpeter Rasul Saddik, trombonist Frank Lacy, cellist Diedre Murray, bassist Fred Hopkins, and drummers Pheeroan Aklaff and Reggie Nicholson. The vocals on the track 'My Rock', which is well sung, but not my cup of tea, is by Ahsa Puthli. The album opens with 'I Can't Wait Till I Get Home' a blues by former bandmate Olu Dara. On the surface, it seems straight ahead at first, but closer listening reveals subversions of the expected. Even the seemingly mainstream calypso ‘Black Hands Bejewelled’ has unexpected harmonies and slippery rhythmic patterns. It’s this mixing of the expected with the surprises that keeps things really rewarding. Even on the aforementioned 'The Rock', Threadgill introduces some rather unexpected passages behind the vocals that work so well. 'Hall' features a quirky beginning with the bass and cello agitating until the horns kick in the door. It's my favorite track on this album, and the one that really showcases how well Threadgill intertwines the composed, the improvised, and the unusual. (PA)

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - Ancestral Song - Live In Stockholm (Silkheart, 1988)

Like with all other Kahil El'Zabar bands and music, rhythm is the basis for lengthy improvisations which are less focused on the solos themselves than on the overall hypnotic, almost trance-inducing sound which is deeply rooted in African soil. The great thing about this album is its simplicity. Kahil El'Zabar plays his trap drum, thumb piano and other small percussion, Edward Wilkerson plays sax and Joseph Bowie trombone and marimba. The album starts with "Papa's Bounce", a classic in the El'Zabar repertoire, followed by "Loose Pocket", a piece that starts slowly, full of blues influences and with El'Zabar singing, but then the pace picks up, the theme sets in and we're back in uptempo free music. The title song is the trio at its best, with great rhythms, a nice theme, and sparse free soloing, all very intimate as if you're in the room with them, but then also very expansive, narrating about free movement and ancient sentiments and universal dances and common feelings and about what is more than just words and sounds. Simple and majestic. (SG)

Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra - Blu Blu Blu (Black Saint/Soul Note, 1989)

From the magnificent depths of the Black Saint/Soul-Note back catalog, Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra's recording 'Blu Blu Blu' is a real stand out. On this big band recording, the pianist is joined by four saxophonists, a five-piece rhythm section, trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba, and whistle. In fact there is track called 'Song For the Whistler', which in a sense, harkens back to the AACM's embrace of the small instruments. The opening 'Plus Equals Minus Balance' is an uptempo chart, prominently featuring the brass and some tasty harmonies from the saxophones. The follow up 'Cycles5' is an abstract tune that makes space for the slide whistle, as well as the vibraphone - it's a beautiful piece that incorporates an AACM aesthetic. The title track is a straight ahead blues homage to Chicagoan Muddy Waters featuring the fretless guitar work of David Fiuczynski. Quite a bit of fun is 'Bloodline', which employs a recognizable descending bass line and seems to indicate, through both the title and the arrangement, a connection with the big bands and arrangements of Duke Ellington.  See the full line up here. (PA)

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Dreaming of the Masters Vol. 2 (feat. Cecil Taylor) (DIW, 1991)

Colin called this album the Art Ensemble’s swan song – and although the band has released several albums after that, he is right: It is their last relevant recording. Joseph Jarman was about to leave the band in 1993 and in 1999 and 2004 Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors died. But this one is also a summary of their philosophy. Dreaming of the Masters Vol. 2 reflects on the works of Thelonious Monk and features free jazz titan Cecil Taylor on piano, voice, and percussion – a musician who is also a master to the AEoC. However, it seems hard to imagine how Taylor’s unique notion of music and the AEoC’s idea of a homage to Monk come together. But Taylor does simply not take part in the two Monk covers (“Round Midnight” and “Nutty”). Instead he joins the ensemble to recite his encrypted poetry (which matches perfectly with AEoC’s love for absurd theatrical elements) and contributes his musical sense of language to the improvisations (“Intro to Fifteen”).  Or he throws in his typical clusters, polyharmonic entities and volcanic sound waves very precisely to the Art Ensemble’s spontaneous compositions.  The result is a real convergence of sound wizards. (MS)

Anthony Braxton Quartet – (Victoriaville) 1992 (Les Disques Victo, 1993)

One of the truly great quartets of jazz, in a recording that catches them at their peak: Braxton (reeds), Marilyn Crispell (piano), Mark Dresser (bass) and Gerry Hemingway (drums, percussion).

The quartet had toured extensively since the previous year, and were familiar with Braxton’s unique notation and building of layers, individually and in tandem, to exploit his fascination with simultaneities. They knew what worked, but were confident enough to take risks.

From the outset, there’s a glittering mosaic of motifs and cross-references tossed around the quartet like a high-class juggling act – music of wit and élan in the face of which the often-made criticism that Braxton’s music is overly formalistic, simply evaporates. As a reviewer said of their performance on Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993 (hat ART, 1997): “To listen and think this quickly is not mere communication – it is telepathy.”

There’s no doubt that Crispell was the catalyst, a virtuosic and compelling musical personality who ignited some of Braxton’s most creative playing, much as Evan Parker did at the London Jazz Festival the following year: Duo (London) 1993 (Leo Records, 1993) and Trio (London) 1993 (Leo Records, 1994).

The performance is intelligently paced, balancing ensemble complexity with equally effective solos and duos, such as the ravishing dialogue between Braxton’s bass clarinet and Hemingway’s tuned percussion. And to top it all, the encore’s a hell-for-leather rendition of Coltrane’s Impressions. The performance as a whole can stand the inevitable comparison. (CG)

Eight Bold Souls - Sideshow (Arabesque, 1992)

8 Bold Souls is the band lead by Ed Wilkerson, and which is characterized by the deep sound of the horn section and the fascinating mix between heavily orchestrated and structured pieces, combined with very free improvizations. The emotional and musical power of this 8-strong ensemble is relatively unique and very recognizable. The band consists of Ed Wilkerson Jr on tenor, alto and bass saxophone, clarinet and alto clarinet, Mwata Bowden on clarinet, baritone, and tenor,  Robert Griffin on trumpet and flugelhorn,  Isaiah Jackson on trombone, Aaron Dodd on tuba, Naomi Millender on cello; Harrison Bankhead on bass, and Dushun Mosley on drums and percussion. Some snapshots : "Black Herman" presents the dark, deep-toned menace of the horn section, supported initially by a very sparse bass-line and ditto drums, changing the tempo after about five minutes, and then the band starts in full swing, with great solo pieces from all the musicians, including cello and bass. This album brings us also one of the best versions of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman", starting with a long, heart-breaking and piercing duet between arco bass and cello, wonderfully emphasizing the absolute sadness of a crushing loneliness, even more fully accentuated when the horns start with the well-known theme. This track by itself justifies the purchase of this album. This music is not changing music history, but it brings a great synthesis of orchestra music, free jazz and bop. Creative and very expressive. A true AACM album! (SG)

Wadada Leo Smith Kulture Jazz (ECM, 1993) *****

This album is a little solo gem by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, who also plays flugelhorn, koto, mbira, harmonica, bamboo notch flute, percussion, as well as sings on some tracks. The music is intimate, going back into the roots of music, from Africa, blues, folk, jazz and then taking this tradition up in his own 'creative music' approach. At the same time, it is a tribute album to all his influences : Albert Ayler, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, to his mother, family and friends (names mentioned for each track), and on top a tribute to life and humanity. The music is gentle, intimate, personal, deeply emotional, expansive, uplifting and spiritual. It has roots deep in the soil of the Mississippi Delta yet with eyes and a heart reaching as far out across the sky as possible. (SG)

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