Ivo Perelman, Chad Fowler, Reggie Workman, and Andrew Cyrille - Embracing the Unknown (Mahakala Music, 2024) *****

By Don Phipps

There are things we know, things we know we do not know, and things we do not know we do not know. Exploring such tenets is an almost circular task, but tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, and his cohorts - alto/soprano saxophonist Chad Fowler [on stritch (a straightened alto sax) and saxello (a soprano sax with a bell)], bassist Reggie Workman (a free jazz stalwart whose contributions to music date back to the early sixties, and who here, is playing the bass Charlie Haden used on the Ornette Coleman masterpiece, The Shape of Jazz to Come), and percussionist Andrew Cyrille (a drummer whose long-time mastery of the skins was praised by none other than the late great Cecil Taylor) - appear unfazed at this conundrum. Instead, on their album Embracing the Unknown, they push the boundaries back, as though one were able to drive the darkness from Plato’s cave in different directions, warping it, and pulling on it in dynamic, whip-like, overpowering fashion.

Take the free-falling “soul searching,” where the music dips and glides and rotates like a tilt-a-whirl spinning on a trapeze. Or the drifting blues that characterize “self-reflection.” Or the sheer sax shrills and the walking bass line that pulls the listener along on “introspection.” And one would be amiss not to call out the opus title cut, “embracing the unknown,” with its out-of-body opening, its shape-shifting improvisations, its dancing bass lines, and its high and hot blowing that tears across the soundstage like a strong riptide.

The two saxophonists often use call and response techniques where the music echoes and then moves on – intersecting at times, while at other times, standing apart, as if the music’s direction, like a sailing ship, was set by nature itself. These are all elements of awesomeness one might expect from a collaboration of saxophonists as talented as Perelman and Fowler – the way they exhort each other, climb over each other, twist and integrate their sounds while maintaining intensity and purpose – it’s a tribute to both that the moods created are often probing and unsettling at the same time. One can really get a feel for this at the end of “introspection,” where the two play together in a long phrasing arc that ends with a seat-grabbing note of exclamation.

The rhythm section is not to be outdone. When you are dealing with luminaries like Workman and Cyrille you expect supreme contributions – and they most certainly accomplish this. Listen to Workman perform his magic on the opening to “introspection,” where he plucks high on the bass register and then settles into a probing counterpoint underneath the saxophonists. Or his mood-projecting bass lines on “self-analysis.” And Cyrille surprises with various percussion, like the use of bells on the opening of “self-analysis” and his tom tom work at the end of “self-reflection.” Likewise, his use of the bass pedal on the title cut is ear-opening. And his challenging drum work underneath Fowler’s solo on “soul searching” is simply not to be missed! However, for the most part, Cyrille’s contributions are gentle, without flash, and supportive of the melancholy bluesy intensity that pervades much of the music.

Whether we want to or not, we all must embrace the unknown. It is always present, lurking beneath our consciousness, weaving its way across the night sky, in the infinite space of the subatomic world, in a friend or lover’s passing from this world, in the distant horizon where the ocean meets the sky. The music of “Embracing the Unknown” certainly reflects the mystery, fear, sadness, and anger of feeling things are within reach when they really never are.