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Rich Halley: Live at the Penofin Jazz Festival
By"Streets Below" out-funks even Coleman's Prime Timeand it's hot, with polyphony like Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens. All these lateral references might suggest pastiche, but Halley is a scary student of the jazz game, so it all comes out as earthy aswell, the earth itself: the earth and air that are implied by the other two titles on the album, "Grey Stones/Shards of Sky" and "The River's Edge is Ice." Halley's unit, a quartet with his son, Carson Halley, on drums, and Clyde Reed on bass, is hard, cohesive and spare.
"Grey Stones/Shards of Sky" is a roller coaster free-for-all. However dangerous, everything is under control. Carson in particular helms the outing with a funky military style beat, as if George Clinton were doing Sousa. There are lots of tempo and time-signature shifts, but the flow is so even-keeled it feels like just a particularly heavy and regular swing. The four cuts are long, but again, they are effortless and go by like a swift sailing boat on its respective tacks across the bay, which can be imagined as San Francisco's, as Halley hails from just north of there.
"The River's Edge is Ice" is another funk-laced number, reminiscent of The Art Ensemble Of Chicago's "Dreaming of the Master," from Nice Guys (ECM, 1979)a tribute to Charles Mingus. Halley's number combines the AEC's controlled chaos with Mingus' passionate humor of the soulagain, seamlessly. Halley is clearly a master, and versed in music theory. If he keeps engendering thoughts of other artists, and waxes poetic, it is because he has so artfully hidden his art. This is poetry for the inner ear.
Track Listing
The Blue Rims; Streets Below; Grey Stones / Shards of Sky; The River's Edge is Ice.
Personnel
Rich Halley
saxophone, tenorRich Halley: tenor saxophone, percussion; Bobby Bradford: cornet, percussion; Clyde Reed: bass; Carson Halley: drums.
Album information
Title: Live At The Penofin Jazz Festival | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Pine Eagle Records
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About Rich Halley
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
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