Barry Altschul, William Hooker, Bobby Previte & Andrew Cyrille

Martin Longley

Concert/Festival Reviewer since 2007

Martin Longley also writes for the BBC Music website, Jazzwise and The Wire magazines, plus the NYC Jazz Record and Coventry Telegraph newspapers.

Recent articles (165 total)

Published: January 22, 2013

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This expansion seems like a natural progression for a player who's already worked in every conceivable smaller-combo permutation. Even though Cyrille was often at the centre of his own sound, this was a vehicle for his compositional skills. There had been a significant collaboration with conductor and arranger Mark Masters Mark Masters
, who hinted at a strong influence in the final inked realization of each piece, an editor as well as a sonic servant. This was a core big band, with most of the players sitting in the horn ranks, only Cyrille and bassist Putter Smith Putter Smith
set outside these rows.

Cyrille has an album lying in wait, and is now seeking a suitable record company to release the results. Most of the works are lined up to appear on this projected disc, the set opening with a pair of representative pieces, "The Navigator" and "High Priest." This last tune was dedicated to the memory of the departed reed man David S. Ware David S. Ware
1949 - 2012
sax, tenor , and featured a rap intro by Cyrille. This was partly rap in its original beatnik sense, and partly influenced by the rap of today.

The compositions weren't as extreme or as abstracted as might be expected from Cyrille, virtually inhabiting a mainline big band terrain. Despite Masters talking about these tunes' extremes, ranging from tight arrangements to free form expression, the improvisations always seemed very rooted in the establishing themes. This was no negative state, as much of the night's flighty spirit emanated from the often inspired solos by reed multi-instrumentalists Billy Harper Billy Harper
b.1943
saxophone , Marty Ehrlich Marty Ehrlich
b.1955
reeds and West Coaster Gary Foster Gary Foster
b.1936
reeds , sonic painter Craig Harris Craig Harris
b.1954 , mute-burbling trombonist Art Baron Art Baron
and trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater Cecil Bridgewater
b.1942
trumpet . The leader also delivered a completely solo percussion piece, emphasizing tuned skins and deftly repeated patterns.