When a group has a name like
Adam Niewood & His Rabble Rousers
, one might assume that their focus is something along the lines of outlaw country, honky tonk, or Southern rock. But there are no covers of
Merle Haggard
's
"Mama Tried,"
Johnny Cash
"Folsom Prison Blues,"
or
Waylon Jennings
'
"Good Hearted Woman"
on this two-CD set. Actually,
Epic Journeys, Vol. 1 & 2
isn't country at all.
Niewood
's group is jazz all the way -- specifically, post-bop jazz with detours into the mildly avant-garde at times.
Epic Journeys
isn't radically avant-garde; the double-disc isn't an exercise in atonal chaos, and reedman
(who wrote all of the material himself) puts a lot of thought into melody, harmony, and composition. But he also makes improvisation a high priority -- mostly inside improvisation, although there is a fair amount of outside improvisation as well. And when
and
the Rabble Rousers
do venture outside, they aren't necessarily going to go about it a particular way. Sometimes, their outside playing has the reflective, contemplative, economical approach that Chicago's
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
is known for. But other times, the outside playing is denser and more intense.
plays several different instruments on
, including tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax, baritone sax, C-melody sax, clarinet and bass clarinet -- and as a soloist, his obvious influences include, among others,
John Coltrane
,
Joe Lovano
, and
Eric Dolphy
. The material on this 2008 release isn't groundbreaking by late 2000s standards, but
's playing, arranging, and composing are consistently solid.
is an enjoyable demonstration of the ways in which the inside and the outside can work together for the greater good in jazz; just don't expect to hear any
Johnny Paycheck
songs. ~ Alex Henderson