mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (07/08/85)
This band is strongly influenced by Charles Mingus. There are good reasons
for this. The leaders, tenor saxist Adams and pianist Pullen, were in
Mingus' bands throughout most ofthe 70s. Drummer Dannie Richmond, of
course was Mingus' alter ego, having been with the Boss since 1957.
Mingus' s music is also prominent in the Quartet's repertoire, both
through covers of his tunes and in originals stamped with his writing
style.
But this is no repertory band, like Mingus Dynasty. A closer parallel
would be with Sphere, another quartet consisting mostly of former Thelonious
Monk bandmates, who play a lot of Monk's music. In both bands, the spirit
of the leader, rather than the letter of the tunes, is the key. The leaders
have had a strong impact on the playing style, indeed the entire
approach to music, of their spiritual heirs. They do not copy,
they are inspired by, the leaders' music. And we are all the better for it.
The Quartet's latest album, LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD (Soul Note,
imported through Polygram Special Imports) is a wonderful example
of their muscular meld of avant garde blowing with soul verities.
Adams has a big tone and sounds very Southwestern. Pullen has
successfully achieved a synthesis of Cecil Taylor and Jaki Byard.
His solo on "Intentions" teeters on the edge of chaos, toeing the line
between Taylorian fury and linear blues. The result sounds vertical, but
holds together beautifully. It's funny, but only after the solo ends
do all its disparate elements come together and the amazed listener
realizes that those seemingly disconnected ideas were part of a completely
coherent whole, like a novel with separate subplots that only come together
at the end.
They also play ballads, with Adams showing a tender side different from
his usual hard boiled sound on Mingus' "Diane", and Pullen using
low register left hand chords contrasted against extreme high register,
percussive lines on Ellington's "Solitude".
The last tune is called "The necessary Blues (THank you very much, Mr Monk)",
which is just that. Pullen has obviously absorbed the way Monk would set up
jokes within his own music, almost making fun of himself, and how he would
put all the elements of a piece together, except one, as if to say,
as Martin Williams aptly noted,, "this is not just the {blues | 32 bar song
form} in this key, but it's this piece of mine called ________"
Danny RIchmond is in peak form here, setting up four separate rhytmic lines,
one per limb, that run in parallel, then cross, re-corss, interfere
with each other, "rub off" on each other, and again go their own ways.
The effect is of an entire percussion orchestra. Richmond is truly
a master of Time. Bassist Cameron Brown, who played with Archie Shepp
for several years, is steadfast, with a broad tone that anchors the
music effectively.
As good as their records are, this band really should be caught live:
there is magic in Adams' quizzical and simultaneously pained expression when
he plays that is oddly in sync with Pullen's wolfish grin. But if for some
reason, one cannot see them, this record is a close second best.
Marcel Simon