A tip of the beret as given to two of the giants of the free jazz movement, Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman on these two albums.
The legendary pianist Cecil Taylor is given overdue respect by equally legendary drummer Andrew Cyrille, trumpeter Enrico Rava and bassist William Parker on this collection of mostly originals. Only “My Funny Valentine”, with Rava out Bakering Chet Baker in a gloriously agonizing form, is a cover, with Cyrille’s brushes dusting off home plate like an Bruce Froemming.
Cyrille almost steals the show, with his drum work deft and daring, he swings loosely under Rava’s fluttering and open horn on “Improvisation No. 1” and rumbles during “Overbard”. Parker is assertive under a rich mooded Rava on “Top, Bottom and What’s in the Biddle” and mellow in the spotlight for “Improvisation No. 2” rava is clear and spacious for “Enrava Melody” and Miles muted around Cyrille’s sticks during “Ballerina”. A wise call not to include a pianist, leaving an empty chair for Taylor’s spirit.
A salute to the early years of Ornette Coleman is delivered here by artists who still surf on the legend’s wake. Oliver Lake/as, Graham Haynes/ct-el, Joe Fonda/b and Barry Altschul/dr-perc celebrate the groundbreaking sounds of Coleman’s early team of Haden, Higgins and Cherry. Altschul is in an assertive mood, keeping busy under the long tones of “Justice” whle getting a bit R&Bish on the fun “Bass Bottom”. The horns are prismatic for “The Other Side”, loose and changing leads as on a horse race on “Me without Bela” and gloriously bel canto for the agonizing “Apaixonado”. Pops, peeps and squawks take place on the loose “OGJB #3” and the honky “Caring” with they ride over Alstchul’s cymbals and avalanche on “Da Bang”. Change of the 21st Century.