Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions

  Fame came late for tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, who achieved a degree of prominence with the public on the basis of a series of thematic albums for Verve Records in the early 1990's. Better late than never, I suppose, but musicians had been hip to his playing since he burst into the scene with his first Blue Note recordings in 1963. Think for a moment about how hard it was for tenormen to break through in that period, when giants like Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Stan Getz and Zoot Sims were still around, along with newer stars like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Booker Ervin and so many others who were making their marks in the jazz world. Even with all that competition, Henderson managed to make himself heard. With the 5 CD set of The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions, Mosaic Records has collected his five albums as a leader for Blue Note from 1963 to 1966 and two albums by trumpeter and mentor Kenny Dorham (Una Mas, Henderson’s recording debut, and Trompeta Toccata). There was also room for the initial recordings of five Henderson originals that first appeared on Blue Note sessions where he was a sideman. Mosaic producer Michael Cuscuna, who probably knows the Blue Note catalog better than anyone, writes that he was “astounded” that there were only 7 albums with Henderson as leader or co-leader with Dorham, considering how ubiquitous Henderson was as a sideman for the label. He brought his tart and exciting tenor sound to such classic outings as The Sidewinder by trumpeter Lee Morgan, Idle Moments by guitarist Grant Green, Black Fire and Point Of Departure by pianist Andrew Hill, Song For My Father by pianist Horace Silver, and more, amassing 20 sideman appearances for the label. Cuscuna concludes that he “cannot think of a musician of more impact and breadth in those years.” High praise, indeed, and totally deserved. To spend hours listening to and absorbing the great music on these discs is to obtain a serious education in the state of jazz at the time. Just consider the drummers you’ll encounter: Tony Williams, Pete La Roca, Elvin Jones, Albert “Tootie” Heath, and Joe Chambers. Or take note of the brilliant roster of pianists on these dates: Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, and Tommy Flanagan. Henderson was matched with many of the best players of the era, and clearly held his own in such stellar company. Having the superb trumpeter Kenny Dorham as a close friend and frequent front line partner surely helped him to gain respect on the scene. As Bob Blumenthal writes in his liner notes for the set, “Established artists consistently replenished the Blue Note roster by introducing future stars with a gift for compatibility that nurtured both their own growth and the label’s legend.” The Dorham-Henderson connection is exemplary in this regard. After recording with Dorham on the trumpeter’s Una Mas date on April 1, 1963, it was just two months later, on June 3, that Henderson led his own debut as a leader. The tellingly titled Page One, a quintet session with Dorham and a rhythm section of pianist Tyner, bassist Butch Warren, and La Roca on drums, introduced a pair of frequently performed jazz compositions in Dorham’s Blue Bossa and Henderson’s Recorda-Me. It’s a sign of the high regard that Blue Note honchos Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff had for the saxophonist that Page One actually appeared in stores that September, a few months before Una Mas was released. Henderson was immensely busy during the less than three years that separate Una Mas from his final Blue Note outing as a leader, Mode For Joe, recorded at the end of January 1966, but his inspiration never flags either as an improviser or a composer. His boundless imagination, combined with an astute sense of harmonic development and a rhythmically propulsive approach to the music allowed him to fit in virtually everywhere, and Blue Note made the most of it over an intense few years. In the great Mosaic tradition, this set includes three previously unissued alternate takes plus the usual wealth of intimate photographs taken at the recording sessions by Francis Wolff. The newly remastered albums have never sounded better. The collection is limited to 2,500 copies, so get it while you can. Highly recommended. 

Mosaic MD5-271; Disc 1 (79:00), Disc 2 (76:41), Disc 3 (76:45); Disc 4 (78:39); Disc 5 (59:11), with the complete albums Una Mas (by Kenny Dorham), Page One, Our Thing, In ‘N Out, Trompeta Toccata (Dorham), Inner Urge, and Mode For Joe, plus tracks from Little Johnny C. (by Johnny Coles), Step Lightly (Blue Mitchell), The Kicker (Bobby Hutcherson), The Cape Verdean Blues (Horace Silver), and Unity (Larry Young). There are three previously unissued alternate takes, of La Mesha and Homestretch on Page One, and the title track on Our Thing. For detailed discographical information, go here.

Michael Bisio: Inimitable

  The accomplished bassist Michael Bisio writes that he wasn’t entirely certain that Inimitable was a compliment when he was introduced that way at what he describes as a “very public forum of bassists...” But when you consider the passion, chops, and attention to detail that Bisio displays in the many contexts in which he’s performed, it becomes clear that there isn’t really anyone else quite like him. He’s made it the title of his new solo date, released on the Mung Music imprint from Korea, offering nearly an hour of his unadorned sound, finely captured by Brooklyn engineer Jim Clouse. It takes a certain measure of audacity for a bass player to record alone, but it takes an extra dose of chutzpah to start off with a tune like the fifteen minute tour de force Quintessence. With his prodigious imagination and energetic drive on full display, your attention is not likely to fade as the music flies by. Next up is the arco feature New One. It’s Bisio at his most romantic, with its gently flowing melody and carefully nuanced work with the bow. The beguiling Henry’s Tune is an absorbing piece of theme and variations, enhanced by the purity of the deep bass that Bisio employs on the track. Contrast that with what follows, Small Things Interrupted. It’s quite a trip as the intricate and insistent upper register damped strums of what sounds like a prepared bass result in a weird combination of clatter and string noise, like transmissions from another world. Renew One begins with the luxuriant sound of the bowed bass, playing a slow and peaceful melody before he sets down the bow to play a calmly reflective commentary on the theme. John Coltrane’s Wise One gets a respectful exploration from Bisio as he dissects the melody with deep logic and impeccable control. In another abrupt segue, Bisio picks up the bow again for the gnarly and assaultive Hear Now, the shortest piece on the set but the wildest. We’re back to a more soothing atmosphere with the rhapsodic Before Dawn Rising. The album concludes with Bisio’s meditative and entrancing look at the standard I Fall in Love Too Easily, a favorite of improvisers since it was premiered by Frank Sinatra in 1945. Inimitable is a superb showcase for the many stylistic approaches of Michael Bisio, an up-close look that’s really worth investigating. Definitely recommended. 

Mung Music; Michael Bisio (b); Brooklyn, NY, February 22, 2020; Quintessence/ New One/ Henry’s Theme/ Small Things Interrupted/ Renew One/ Wise One/ Hear Now/ Before Dawn Rising/ I Fall in Love Too Easily; 58:05. mungmusic.bandcamp.com

The music that kept me going in 2021

To say the least, 2021 was another confounding year. At least there was plenty of music to help with distraction and beauty.

Here are twenty releases that stand out.

First, fourteen new recordings: 

Beady Beast (Christy Doran & Franz Hellmüller) - On The Go (Between The Lines)

Benoît Delbecq - The Weight Of Light (Pyroclastic)

Whit Dickey/William Parker/Matthew Shipp - Village Mothership (Tao Forms)

Ben Goldberg - Everything Happens To Be. (BAG Productions)

Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi (Red Hook)

Ochs-Robinson Duo - A Civil Right (ESP-Disk’)

William Parker - Mayan Space Station (AUM Fidelity)

Mario Pavone/Dialect Trio + 1 - Blue Vertical (Out Of Your Head)

Ivo Perelman - Brass And Ivory Tales (Fundacja Słuchaj!)

Ches Smith & We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic)

Wadada Leo Smith/Jack DeJohnette/Vijay Iyer - A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday (TUM)

Wadada Leo Smith - Sacred Ceremonies (TUM)

Tani Tabbal Trio - Now Then (Tao Forms)

Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii - Keshin (Libra)

and then there are the previously unreleased gems of the year:

Hasaan Ibn Ali - Metaphysics-The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore)

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings 

(Blue Note)

Roy Brooks - Understanding (Reel To Real)

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme Live In Seattle (Impulse!)

Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller - In Harmony (Resonance)

Harvie S Trio - Going For It (Savant) 

Christy Doran & Stefan Banz: Aerosols

  The visual arts have inspired musical creativity in many different ways over the centuries. Typically, a composer or performer will react to a work of art without the participation of the artist. But not always. Guitarist Christy Doran & Stefan Banz, a Swiss artist, had known one another for a long time when Banz approached Doran about a project they could work on together. Doran immediately agreed, and the result is the endlessly intriguing Aerosols. To begin, Banz responded to five of Doran’s solo compositions with paintings done in acrylic on cotton. Doran then reacted to five other Banz paintings with a batch of new pieces. Banz unfortunately died of a heart attack in May 2021, but all the music had been recorded by then, and the booklet was nearly done. The artist’s son, his partner, and some friends pitched in to help complete the project. Doran has been heard in an amazing array of contexts since his recording debut in 1970 with Jazz Rock Experience. A founding member of Om, the Swiss quartet, Doran has worked frequently with drummer Freddy Studer (also in Om), with another Irish-Swiss artist, pianist John Wolf Brennan, along with Django Bates, Joe McPhee, Han Bennink, and many, many others. Having recorded a number of solo projects, he wasn’t inclined to do another until Banz presented his idea for this set. The guitarist’s suggestions for five paintings comprise the first half of the CD, followed by the five pieces composed in reaction to the images. The booklet reproduces Banz’s paintings, so the listener can try to get a sense of how this partnership developed. The images tend to be boldly colored and abstract, but there’s also a portrait of Banz’s brother Alexander and a group of loosely sketched people in From the Ballad of Affection. The variability of Banz’s visuals, from the plain pinkish moon of Cat Care to the surreal pale red and blue of Precious Sky to the color-altered portrait Alexander, finds its analog in the boundary-less musical zones that Doran explores with electric and acoustic guitars and electronic devices. The enhancements provide drones and loops, contributing to an overall fuller sound. Hard as it is to describe music with words, there’s really no way to convey anything about the relationship between say, the burning red of Broken View, the painting, and Kaleidoscope in a Blizzard, the mostly peaceable electric guitar piece that inspired it, or how the busy multi-colored patchwork of Banz’s Upgrading Equality evoked the folky blues feeling of Doran’s composition. All I can say is that I keep listening to Doran’s intricate pieces, full of surprising twists and turns, while looking closely at Banz’s art, marveling yet again at the human capacity for creative expression and startling beauty. 

Between The Lines BTLCHR71251; Christy Doran (ac & el g, electronic devices); Lucerne, Switzerland, January-April 2021; Cat care/ Venice/ Kaleidoscope in a Blizzard/ White Fields Full of Diamonds/ Defense of Defeat/ Lactus/ From the Ballad of Affection/ Alexander/ Aerosols/ Upgrading equality; 49:03. www.challengerecords.com

Houston Person: Live In Paris

  First heard on record with organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith on Riverside back in 1963, the work of tenor saxophonist Houston Person has been consistently enjoyable over the years whether as a bandleader, sideman, and record producer. His latest outing, Live In Paris, recorded at the 2019 Festival Jazz à la Villette, is another winning set with nearly an hour of blues-drenched soulful jazz. Person brought an eminently compatible and supportive quartet to the City of Lights with Peter Bernstein on guitar, Ben Paterson at the Hammond B-3 organ, and Willie Jones III on drums. Together they tackle a choice selection of pop songs and jazz tunes, including Johnny Griffin’s Sweet Sucker, Billy Taylor’s Easy Walker, Lester Young’s timeless Lester Leaps In, and Bobby Hebb’s Sunny, a favorite of saxophonists since it debuted in 1966. While I’m especially partial to the album’s slower numbers, like the band’s stroll through Only Trust Your Heart, a Benny Carter composition introduced by Stan Getz in 1964, and the way that Person caresses ballads like The Way We Were and Since I Fell For You, the truth is there isn’t a dull moment here. Definitely recommended. 

HighNote HCD 7338; Houston Person (ts) Ben Paterson (Hammond B3 org) Peter Bernstein (g) Willie Jones III (d), Paris, France, September 8, 2019; Sweet Sucker/ Only Trust Your Heart/ Easy Walker/ The Way We Were/ Lester Leaps In/ Since I Fell for You/ Sunny/ Jean-Jaures Shuffle; 59:02. www.jazzdepot.com

Louis Armstrong: The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966

  The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966 collects studio tracks from the tail end of Armstrong’s RCA contract in the late Forties including two All Star sessions in 1947 with Jack Teagarden in the group, three Columbia albums (Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats, both recorded in 1955, and The Real Ambassadors, his collaboration with Dave Brubeck in 1961), plus some Columbia singles, highlighted by versions of Mack the Knife with and without Lotte Lenya. Add in a slew of alternate takes, breakdowns, and inserts, and it amounts to seven CDs of jazz joy, Satchmo style. While there are a few clunkers I could mention, like the 1959 Remington razor promotion Music To Shave By (!), Armstrong manages to bring at least a spark of interest to the even the most awkward situations. By this period, Armstrong had been a star for decades. That created a problem for record companies, trying to figure out what to do that he hadn’t already done to perfection. To these ears, the Fats Waller and W.C. Handy tributes represent the pinnacle of Armstrong’s work in his later years, and I don’t think too many fans would disagree. The other major production, The Real Ambassadors, a work of Fifties-era liberalism with lyrics by Iola Brubeck has its following, and still holds some cultural interest. But the dated vocal stylings of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross really sink this one for me. 

Louis Armstrong’s fabulous trumpet and inimitable vocals are, of course, the stars of the show, but he had a real champion and non-playing co-star in producer George Avakian, who was responsible for suggesting the Waller and Handy sets to Columbia and Armstrong. Of the three main producers represented in this compilation, Avakian, Leonard Feather on some of the RCA material, and Teo Macero, who did The Real Ambassadors, clearly it was Avakian who had the best sense of matching Armstrong with suitable material. And as Ricky Riccardi, Director of the Research Collections for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and a co-producer of this box set, writes, from “listening to the session tapes, it’s clear that Armstrong had the most fun when Avakian was behind the glass” in the control room. There’s plenty of evidence of that good feeling in the copious outtakes included here. To the eternal credit of Mosaic’s Scott Wenzel and co-compilers Riccardi, Richie Noorigian, and David Ostwald, the original LP sequences of the three LPs have been preserved with alternates and breakdowns arranged in the same sequence afterwards. There are times when you really want to hear five takes of Aunt Hagar’s Blues or two attempts at Honeysuckle Rose in a row, because it’s deeply instructive about Armstrong and Avakian’s creative process. More often, though, you’ll just want to sit back and hear the album as it was released. Avakian is also revealed to have been a superb tape editor in the era of sharp knives and splicing tape, as well as a pioneer in the use of overdubbing. The most remarkable thing is how much work it took to make it all sound like it was no work at all. Just listen to the rehearsal takes and inserts for Mack the Knife to get a real sense of how Avakian, Armstrong, Lotte Lenya and the All Stars interacted in the studio in order to get it right. Even with nearly half an hour included in this set, the complete discographical information tells us that there are still more bits and pieces that remains unissued. And all just for a single.

In addition to the discographical data, the 44-page booklet includes Riccardi’s extensive and informative session notes and a selection of photographs mostly taken at the recording sessions. There also shots of Armstrong’s lyric sheet for Mack the Knife and the Music To Shave By cardboard disc. The 24-bit technology used throughout the production process really makes the music sparkle. It’s impossible not to recommend a collection that includes two absolute masterpieces in Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy and Satch Plays Fats, especially with so much previously unissued material from these sessions, so go to www.mosaicrecords.com and get one of the 3,500 sets in this limited edition while you can. 

Mosaic MD7-270; Disc 1, The RCA Victor Singles, 77:53; Disc 2, The RCA Victor Columbia Singles, 79:53; Disc 3, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Master LP & Alternates), 79:40; Disc 4, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Alternates), 76:49; Disc 5, Satch Plays Fats (Master LP & Alternates), 78:46; Disc 6, Satch Plays Fats (Alternates) & The Real Ambassadors (Master LP), 76:30; Disc 7, The Real Ambassadors (Singles & Alternates), 75:37. For full discographical information, go here. 

Ivo Perelman: Brass And Ivory Tales

    The prolific tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman is not the kind of person that does things halfway. As a practitioner of totally free improvisation, he’s recorded dozens of projects with pianist Matthew Shipp, indulged his interest in playing with string players in a series of 4 discs on Leo plus a session with the Arcado String Trio on the FSR label, and teamed up with bass clarinetists Rudi Mahall and Jason Stein to record several hours of duets (also on Leo). His latest opus, celebrating his 60th birthday, is Brass And Ivory Tales, a collection of 9 CDs pairing Perelman’s formidable concept and mastery of the tenor saxophone with an equally formidable array of deeply creative pianists. Each CD is a “tale,” separated into “chapters,” with as few as two long pieces (Dave Burrell) or as many as eleven (Sylvie Courvoisier). While there is no indication that the chapters are sequenced in the order in which they were played, it often feels that way. The strategy is always the same: say hello and start to play with no preconceptions whatsoever. These tales took seven years to record, starting out with a duet with Marilyn Crispell in March 2014. The most recent encounters are with Aaron Parks in March 2020, and a final flurry of activity in 2021 of sessions with Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, and Angelica Sanchez. Save for a 1996 quartet session featuring Crispell, these are all first encounters. That serves to demonstrate the immense power of the free improvisation scenario when it’s approached by the right performers, where Perelman’s dedication and practice can lead to so many different musical zones. The presence of musicians from around the world is notable. It’s also worthy of note (although perhaps it shouldn’t be) that three of Perelman’s encounters are with women. 

Sometimes the mood is expansive and the players dialog at length. The set with revered elder Dave Burrell on the first disc is like that, with two long improvisations that fill an hour. The musicians are eminently compatible and thoroughly engaging in Chapter One, a 37-minute exploration that touches on the blues and hints at a number of standards. Chapter Two is a bit edgier with Perelman in a generally calm mood and Burrell maintaining his usual rigorous focus.

Tale Two, with Marilyn Crispell is beyond gorgeous, with each player deeply rooted and equally passionate about the direction of the music. The pianist’s introduction to Chapter One is utterly arresting, before Perelman enters the picture with peaceful gravity and power. There’s no letup in the course of nine chapters that range from the soulful (Chapter One and its mirror image, Chapter Nine) to the absolutely wild (the herky-jerky swing of Chapter Two and the powerful Chapter Eight).

Emotion runs high in the duets with Aruán Ortiz. The pianist likes to begin with simple structures that let his notes ring out while Perelman counters with bent notes and taut lines that twist and turn. Ortiz’s command of the keyboard, like the combination of right hand melody with left hand bass clusters that powers Chapter Three, provokes Perelman into some of his most exuberant playing. There is always such impressive playing on Perelman’s releases that it’s hard to pick favorite moments, but I will note my pleasure at the extreme density of Ortiz’s playing and Perelman’s impassioned responses on the lengthy Chapter Four and at the dynamic sweep and spontaneously generated architecture of Chapter Five. This eminently satisfying encounter concludes with the gentle and peaceful Chapter Seven. 

Tale Four presents Perelman in musical conversation with pianist Aaron Parks. Parks is generally considered a mainstream player, working with, among many others, Joshua Redman, Terence Blanchard, and Ambrose Akinmusire. That makes his presence here perhaps the most surprising meeting of the nine discs. As told by Neil Tesser, Perelman’s indefatigable chronicler, the two met over dinner and hit it off, especially when Parks expressed his admiration for Matthew Shipp. Perelman notes Parks’ “beautiful round harmonies, and his melodic playing” leading to the saxophonist’s maximizing his “expressionism without resorting to harshness.” The pair’s three long and deeply absorbing improvisations testify to the protean nature of Perelman’s disciplined musical approach and his ability to dramatically adjust his contribution to the music while always retaining the core of his sound. 

Sylvie Courvoisier, Perelman’s partner on Tale Five, starts off Chapter One with a calm and stately melody, the first of eleven instant compositions. Perelman is almost jaunty on Chapter One with an unusually low-key attitude . By contrast, Chapter Two jumps right out at the start, with a feral saxophone attack and dissonant power chords at the piano. These two performances, taking up the first six minutes of this fifty-five minute ride, prime the listener to expect an immense range of expression, an expectation that is more than fulfilled in the balance of the CD. The blend of high-register saxophone and the inside-the-piano creaks and bangs makes Chapter Three one of the real gems here. The seemingly random bursts of Chapter Seven lead to some of the most energetic playing of the date. The frantic clatter of Chapter Eight arises from Perelman’s excitable extreme high register playing coupled with Courvoisier’s dense pianistics, including more inside the piano techniques to give extra spice for their soundworld. The final three chapters tend to be more relaxed and almost wistful, an astute and welcome conclusion to a thoroughly rewarding and absorbing encounter. Courvoisier has frequently recorded in duo settings, and it shows in the boldness and emphatic nature of her playing. Their collaboration makes me look forward to more work by this duo.

The Spanish pianist Agustí Fernández is Perelman’s partner for Tale Six, bringing his refined sensibility and bold imagination to bear on the proceedings. Beginning with the relatively serene Chapter One, the pair ranges far and wide in their search for fresh sonorities and felicitous textures. Chapter Two is explosive and bold, a high-energy call and response romp. Chapter Three extends the density of Chapter Two into a roller-coaster ride of unleashed power. Chapter Five features Fernandez rattling around the inside of the piano and making some rowdy sounds that provoke Perelman into some squeaky realms of his own. Another ferocious duet erupts in Chapter Six with the pianist’s thick onslaught starting things off at a high level of intensity. They dial back the power, though not the fervency, for a sort of free ballad on Chapter Seven. That’s followed by the rather jolly combination of Fernandez back inside the piano strumming the strings as Perelman builds a melody from a few repeated notes. The disc concludes with Chapter Nine with Fernandez making a relatively rare move to the very high end of the piano and Perelman responding by going down low on his horn. For much of this disc, Perelman concentrates on the lower registers of his tenor, with only the occasional leap into the stratospheric heights that he often inhabits. Tale Six offers a winning encounter where both musicians sound thoroughly at home and engaged. 

Perelman’s collaborator for Tale Seven is the frequently dazzling pianist Craig Taborn. Chapter One of their encounter clocks in at over 26 minutes, and the pair is by turns contemplative, brusque, combative and tender. Taborn’s forceful and highly energized playing leads Perelman into sustained frenzies of sound, complete with the occasional vocal exclamation. Their brisk liveliness never falters through five chapters, loaded with passages of astounding beauty. As the saxophonist told Tesser, Taborn’s “colossal drive tapped into gigantic streams of energy” and the power of their collaboration is impressive indeed.

The duets with Angelica Sanchez on Tale Seven often deliver the uncanny sense that the music derives from an underlying composition. Clearly it’s an illusion, as the forms are generated spontaneously, but Sanchez’s brittle and imperturbable lyricism seems to move Perelman ever so slightly in the direction of more traditional styles of improvisation. That’s not always the case, as the blustery Chapter Four or the saxophone bleats and muted piano clusters of the first half of Chapter Six prove. Still, the nine chapters of Tale Seven comprise a case study in the immense possibilities of free improvisation and the virtues of close listening. The sustained bittersweet free ballad that concludes the disc is yet another of the collection’s highlights.

For the final disc, Perelman is joined by Vijay Iyer for five improvisations. Iyer, who has distinguished himself as a key collaborator with artists as varied as alto saxophonists Steve Coleman and Rudresh Mahanthappa, rapper Mike Ladd, and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, proves to be an adventurous and provocative partner for Perelman. From the first few minutes of Chapter One, the duo’s connection is evident in the way that the music ebbs and flows. Displaying his usual intensity, Perelman ranges all over his horn amid Iyer’s resourceful and busy piano stylings. Chapter One is over 17 minutes of incendiary and enthralling music, a tour de force of improvisatory music-making. In truth, if Tale Nine had only this single chapter, it would stand as significant and beautifully realized. But of course, there’s much more to be heard here. There’s the slowly meandering conversation of the brief Chapter Two followed by the complex elegance of the 25 minute Chapter Three with its ultra-dynamic shifts of pacing and density that grab your attention and keep it, lest you miss another serendipitous passage of instant music making. Chapter Four continues to be chock full of radical changes in tempo and fury including a hair-raising section of spiraling intensity that stops abruptly at about the halfway point of the 14 minute piece. The final Chapter Five presents a short (2:28) but furious argument that seems to me almost funny as a fragment of stereotyped “free jazz” and a marvelous way to end the disc, and the whole box set. 

Ivo Perelman’s bold and expressive style of free improvisation is certainly an acquired taste, but, from my perspective, one very much worth acquiring. The heartily recommended Brass And Ivory Tales is another milestone in the burgeoning discography of Ivo Perelman. 

    Fundacja Słuchaj! (Poland); Ivo Perelman (ts) with Disc 1 (57:10, in two chapters) Dave Burrell (p), January 2020; Disc 2 (52:42, in nine chapters): Marilyn Crispell (p), March 2014; Disc 3 (55:40, in seven chapters) Aruán Ortiz (p), December 2017; Disc 4 (39:42, in three chapters) Aaron Parks (p), March 2020; Disc 5 (54:26, in eleven chapters) Sylvie Courvoisier (p), March 2018; Disc 6 (54:10, in nine chapters) Agustí Fernández (p), July 2017; Disc 7 (65:01, in five chapters) Craig Taborn (p), June 2021; Disc 8 (61:29, in nine chapters) Angelica Sanchez (p), June 2021; Disc 9 (63:16, in five chapters) Vijay Iyer (p), May 2021. All tracks recorded in Brooklyn, NY. sluchaj.bandcamp.com/album/brass-ivory-tales