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Best way imaginable to spend a Sunday afternoon. The trio of Charles Gayle, William Parker, and Rashid Ali once burned holes through roofs back in the mid 90's. After nearly ten years apart, the trio was back together burning holes through the stage at the Clemente Soto Velez space. Perhaps a bit more grounded than ten years earlier when Gayle's stratospheric runs on the tenor would take us on long journeys to the interstellar regions of music and space, the 2006 reunion explored more earthly regions that are every bit as, if not more beautiful, powerful, spirited, and yes...fertile.
Charles graced the stage with his white, plastic alto saxophone, sharing every bit of his message with soulful cries, shrieks of joy, and leading into passages rich in free-swinging melody. The music flowed almost effortlessly through three of four pieces, ending with Charles on the tenor. William and Rashid sounded as if they'd been playing nightly for the past ten years, always keeping the free rhythms going strong, allowing each other to take the forefront at split second moments, a Rashid Ali roll on the snare, a Parker slap of the strings, an Ali bomb on the toms, a Parker scrape of the bow, all without missing a beat, they were constantly creating.
Those of us who thought the first set was extraordinary didn;t know what we were in for. As set two was to begin, I looked to the right. Ahh Adam Lore. Glad you made it. I didn;t see you afterwards. Then my good friend from Brooklyn, Harold and his wife Vera. Don, who I always see at the Cecil Taylor gigs. The Waxmans, from Toronto. This time it's one long piece, one intense piece with many changes in texture and dynamics, Charles calling out numbers at certain points. Early into the set it appeared that they were just toying with us earlier. The notes flow fast and furious from the alto. Charles is obviously feeling it and later the tenor becomes an extension of his self. William scraping extraordinary lines with double bow, fingers barely hitting the strings but traversing the fretboard. Ali, inspired, screams out in joy. This was music of the free-jazz idiom at its finest. Not a beat was missed after ten years. Let's hope it happens again soon.
As we were leaving town that evening, after an excruciatingly beautiful set by Rob Brown and Matthew Shipp (!!) , I turned on WFMU where a very hip young lady was playing some fine electronic sounds (and later played Jacques Coursil with Braxton). As she read from the liner notes, one of the artist/producers of the electronic piece explained how the piece was divided into each of the players being assigned to play within certain frequencies. Interesting concept, and the music was quite nice to hear. But then he went on to write, exclaiming something to the effect that this is the new music (don't quote me, I'm writing from memory) and Gone are the groups, the ensembles, etc.... I could only think how lucky we are that the groups and ensembles remain and create. Jan, I wish you could have been there!
Last edited by Frisco; January-9th-2006 at 06:40 PM.
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