Trumpeter
Wadada Leo Smith
moves from
Tzadik
to the upstart
Pi
label for the second release with his Golden Quartet, again featuring
Anthony Davis
on piano,
Malachi Maghostut Favors
on bass, and
Jack DeJohnette
on drums. This measured, thoughtful music doesn't fit neatly into the
avant-garde
category, although its harmonic language is often open-ended and mildly dissonant. Both
Davis
and
DeJohnette
are credited on synthesizer, but the sounds they employ are remarkably close to the old-fashioned, analog Wurlitzer. Combined with
Favors
' resonant, grooving basslines and
's loose straight-eighth rhythms -- on the opening
"Al-Madinah,"
for instance -- the result is somewhat akin to
Miles Davis
in the
In a Silent Way
period. A similarly diffuse, vamp-based feel underlies
"The Zamzam Well a Stream of a Pure Light,"
while
"Piru"
is even more spacious, with muted trumpet cries and drifting rubato sonorities.
"Kangaroo's Hollow"
offers an intimate look at the tight
Smith
-
rapport by featuring them in a stark duo setting. The title track comes the closest to what can simply be called
free jazz
; starting as a kind of moderate shout-
blues
, it soon speeds up, with
playing angular unison lines that set the stage for bracing, freewheeling
improv
. Finally,
"Miles Star in 3 Parts"
moves from mellow rubato textures to a jumpy, insistent theme, the bassline of which is played by
, not
-- just one example of how
uses the instruments at hand in unexpected ways. ~ David R. Adler