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Ivo Perelman / Ray Anderson / Joe Morris / Reggie Nicholson: Molten Gold
by Chris May
Lovingly described by one critic as “a leather-lunged monster," reviews of saxophonist Ivo Perelman's albums typically attract words such as honking, squawking, squealing and apocalyptic. Perelman is not interested in the current vogue for creating safe spaces. He is not the sort of free-improv player one would, in the normal course of things, recommend to AAJers wanting to dip a neophyte toe in the genre. But Molten Gold is recommended. And not just to newbies, but to ...
Continue ReadingFlow Trio with Joe McPhee: Winter Garden
by Mark Corroto
The thing about free jazz is that it is very much like abstract expressionist painting. Many an inexperienced museum goer will spot a Jackson Pollock and say to herself, “I coulda done that." Actually, you couldn't. Same thing with free jazz. From a distance, it's all hubbub and din, but try your hand at it, and you're just creating babel. In the hands of masters like the Flow Trio and their guest Joe McPhee, that cacophony becomes a beautiful thing, ...
Continue ReadingPaul Dunmall - Matthew Shipp - Joe Morris - Gerald Cleaver: The Bright Awakening
by John Sharpe
British saxophonist Paul Dunmall reaffirms the transcendent power of free jazz with a muscular quartet convened for his triumphant appearance at the 2012 Vision Festival, for which he invited pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Joe Morris and drummer Gerald Cleaver to join him. The pianist and reedman were well acquainted, having hooked up during a Shipp residency at London's Cafe Oto in 2010, with the group captured for posterity on Live In London (FMR, 2017). While Dunmall had not previously played ...
Continue ReadingTomeka Reid - Joe Morris: Combinations
by John Sharpe
One of the fascinations of a duet is how the alternating tension and balance between the two poles can create an overall mood which differs from either of the constituent parts. Abstraction particularly promotes that sort of ambiguity, and it is especially prevalent in the pairing of cellist Tomeka Reid and guitarist Joe Morris on Combinations, who....er, combine on a program of ten cuts, which include three covers from the free jazz canon alongside unfettered inventions. After a ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman: Shamanism
by Hrayr Attarian
Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's impressive oeuvre is marked by its creator's singular talent of balancing intellectual rigor and passionate abandon. Perelman's improvisation-heavy pieces are dynamic and intricately constructed, sometimes resembling tone poems in their evocative nature. His 2020 Shamanism consists of ten of these which are imbued with sublime spirituality. Joining Perelman on this superlative release are long-time collaborator pianist Matthew Shipp, and guitarist Joe Morris. After Shipp's brief and haunting solo, “Prophets and Healers," the title track ...
Continue ReadingNoah Kaplan Quartet: Out of the Hole
by Glenn Astarita
This is the third installment of saxophonist, composer Noah Kaplan's quartet for the hatology (now ezz-thetics) label amid an eight-year delay between the time the sessions were completed and the issuance of the album. For example, this live outing recorded at Firehouse 12 in Connecticut was consummated in 2012 and released in 2020. But in the liners, Kaplan states that a “quartet reunion gig in 2017 reminded him of the previously unreleased material's growth and substance" warranting a release of ...
Continue ReadingMorris / Gauci / Lane: Studio Sessions Vol. 3
by John Sharpe
There is a surprise in store on Brooklyn tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci's Studio Sessions Volume 3. Not only is celebrated erstwhile guitarist and bassist Joe Morris an unexpected face alongside the reedman, but this time out he features on an unfamiliar instrument, seated behind the drum kit for the two lengthy excursions into uncharted territory. However, it is not all new; bassist Adam Lane, one of Gauci's most regular collaborators who regularly anchors the hornman's quartet, completes the line up. ...
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