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Rating: There is free jazz and FREE JAZZ.
That is: you need to know what to do with freedom, otherwise it becomes just primordial chaos, devoid of sense and artistic value. Free jazz, as a new form of expression, made its first, timid appearances in '49 with the pieces "Intuition" and "Digression" by Lennie Tristano's sextet. The novelty: absence of a fixed harmonic and rhythmic base. In '56 followed "Pithecanthropus Erectus", from the eponymous album by Charles Mingus, where some sections have harsh, screaming and totally improvised sounds. During that period, pianist Cecil Taylor was making waves at the Five Spot, considered by many as the true “father” of free. His music is violent, percussive, atonal, yet with iron logic and discipline. The name of his solo debut, "Jazz Advance" in '56, is emblematic. It would take a couple more years to witness the advent of Ornette Coleman, the most recognized name of the "new thing," and author of "Something Else!", the masterpieces "The Shape Of Jazz To Come", "Change Of The Century", and "This Is Our Music" (note the titles!), and the Manifesto (not a masterpiece) of this musical current: "Free Jazz", from '60.
The identity and the aesthetic of the movement are now codified, and can be summed up in two words: musical flow. In free jazz, everything is different from hard bop, except for the instruments used! Not only is there a lack of a chord progression, but real themes to improvise on are almost always absent. The Beat is replaced by an almost constant rhythmic pulse, the sounds become shrill, like unsatisfied yearning, cries of protest. The solos become far too lengthy, overflowing.
Very often this music has produced fruits of poor taste. The main mistake of some avant-gardists was not understanding the importance of interplay, especially in “extreme” situations like these. Without interplay, free improvised music is sterile and flat.
Charles Gayle (tenor sax), William Parker (double bass), and Rashied Ali (drums) are a wonderful trio performing FREE JAZZ at the highest levels. And the interplay on this record truly reaches heights that are difficult to achieve. Fiery, fast, exhilarating music, varying in moods in a way free jazz rarely manages to. The album unfolds in five untitled parts, for a duration of about 70' of thrills and emotions, that seem to last a moment. The music starts full force and never stops! Much space is given to solitary solos by William Parker, an excellent bassist often alongside pianist Mattew Shipp, and Rashied Ali, a well-known name in the free world, none other than the young drummer who replaced Elvin Jones in John Coltrane's group in '65. The two handle themselves excellently to accommodate the saxophonist’s impetus, and along the way, one repeatedly marvels at the technical and improvisational mastery of this trio, particularly of Gayle, a semi-unknown figure who, due to his choice to "do free," had a hard time in America, was homeless for a long time, surviving by playing on the street, scraping together a few coins to afford one meal a day. Gayle has a sound reminiscent at times of Albert Ayler and occasionally of Archie Shepp (two other great names of free) with his “humanization” of sound; his fiery forays into the instrument's highest registers are impressive, as is his sense of form in a virtually formless context. But it is another saxophonist whose distant aura is perceived: John Coltrane. Contrary to what the album's title might suggest, this isn’t a tribute to John, nor an album of “covers.” The connection is much more tenuous and is mainly ideal. Coltrane is evoked at a subliminal level just to say thank you, a thank you from someone who saw him as a guiding light, who saw his conversion to the free jazz cause (with "Ascension") as an eloquent and blessing stance in favor.
The fact that it was the tiny German label FMP (Free Music Production) which gave these artists the opportunity to record, and not an American major label, is the cause for the resentful discontent of one Joseph Chonto, author of lengthy and angry, yet highly insightful liner notes. Summarizing his vision, it can be said that free music with high interplay represents the social equivalent of a true and fair democracy, where everyone is free to express themselves fully, but by LISTENING to and respecting the other, taking cues from their suggestions, and giving them their own.
Tracklist
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