mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON) (03/19/85)
This is a quartet date from 1962, originally on Impulse, re-issued on the British Jasmine label, distributed by MCA. The personel is Haynes, Rashaan Roland Kirk: various woodwinds, Tommy Flanagan: piano and Henry Grimes: bass. Haynes has been demonstrating his drum mastery since the late 50s, on those classic gigs with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot, and again last year on Freddie Hubbard's SWEET RETURN (an excellent LP, BTW, with Lew Tabackin and JoAnne Brackeen). He has not led too many sessions, however, so they are that much more precious. It is thus great to have this wonderful one available again. The personnel is an intriguing mix of the then avant garde (Kirk, Grimes) and the traditional (Flanagan, Haynes). All were noted for their flexibility, though. Haynes around the same time replaced Elvin Jones in Coltrane's band (E was recovering from hard living). Flanagan had also played with Coltrane and was making the rounds of the New York sessions, and Grimes had worked with Ornette, Alber Ayler, Cecil Taylor AND Bill Evans. Rashaan was always Rashaan, always ready to play. Every one is in fine fettle here. There are a couple of very fine blues, taken respectively on tenor and soprano. There is also a wonderful ballad on the rarely recorded C-melody sax. The C-melody has a basic tone somewhere between the alto and the tenor and sounds like nothing more than pre WW II Lester Young. One all-out blowing tone finds Kirk playing first one, then two, then three horns, with Flanagan, then Haynes joining him in the free-for-all. Through it all, the rhythm never flags, a tribute to Grimes (what happened to him?) and especially to Haynes. Roy is a BOSS percussionist. His time is turn tender, tough, anticipatory, reflexive, as if he inserts himself into the solo's twists and turns, to provide the rhythmic kick into the next idea. For what seems like whole choruses, he will not explicitly state the time, dancing around it with bass drum bombs or polyrhythmic cross-accents. Yet he is always swinging. It is clear that Haynes ranks with Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones as the transitional figures between be-bop and free timers like Andrew Cyrille or Famoudou Don Moye. This is an always enjoyable LP that cuts across the free jazz debate that was raging at the time, and clearly demonstrates that in the hand of the right people, good music trascends labels. Marcel Simon