Today is the official street date for
Wildlife (AUM056), the debut of the new collective ensemble of the same name featuring
Joe Morris,
Petr Cancura and
Luther Gray.
It is also Morris' first release as a leader/co-leader for the label since his 2001 solo guitar recording,
Singularity (AUM018), and the second of the three 2009 releases on the label to feature him in a prominent role. The others are David S. Ware's
Shakti (AUM052) and the Joe Morris Quartet's
Today on Earth (AUM058), coming in October.
The band will celebrate its release this Friday night at
Barbès in Brooklyn and at
The Local 269 in Manhattan on Monday, August 10th.
Here's a sample of this record's enthusiastic reception thus far:
"This album is a masterful showcase for three brilliant musicians."
—
Phil Freeman, AllMusic.com
“The album’s four long tracks were spontaneously conceived and Mr. Morris steers the action with bullish clarity, whether he’s plucking tangled clusters or walking four beats to the bar. His rapport with Mr. Gray, a regular colleague, runs impressively deep. More surprising is his bond with Mr. Cancura, a relative newcomer (to me, at least) whose robust exertions on alto and tenor access free-jazz legacies from both sides of the Atlantic.”
—
Nate Chinen, New York Times
"...a thoroughly assured outing. Certainly no one takes the back seat, but Cancura’s engagement with various post-bop options is undoubtedly the heart of this group’s vitality. It’s his robust sound and its dynamic presence that galvanises Gray and Morris, who are clearly loving it."
—
Julian Cowley, The Wire
"This music is collectively improvised, the result of a spontaneous process made with a deep awareness of decades of free jazz practice...the players are free to be themselves, to draw at will from a continuum of ideas about how to interact, and to perhaps show a side that they don’t elsewhere."
—
Bill Meyer, Dusted
"The trio's congenial interplay is superlative, whether careening through the quicksilver changes of 'Nettle' or extrapolating the somber motifs of 'Crow.' A compelling document of the saxophone trio tradition as a democratic exchange of ideas,
Wildlife presents three masterful improvisers at the top of their game."
—
Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com
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