David Murray, Brad Jones, Hamid Drake: Brand New World Trio

David Murray's Brave New World Trio is certainly a dream team of modern jazz. The only explanation for why the saxophonist, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Hamid Drake have not toured and recorded together in the past is that each musician is in high demand as leader or sideman. It took a worldwide pandemic, with each player's lockdown location being proximate to the others, for a performance and this recording to happen. While not ready to thank the virus for these sounds, let's praise our luck.

Murray composed all the music here with the exception of Sly & The Family Stone's 1973 "If You Want Me To Stay." That track is a fitting encapsulation of this project. All three musicians, although practitioners of the avant-garde, willingly accommodate funk and boogie grooves in their music, Murray with Kahil El'Zabar, Jones in the New Zion Trio, and Drake's Hu Vibrational. Like the Murray composition from the 1970s "Let The Music Take You," which he recreated over the years in small and large ensembles, this entire session takes "you deeper than the heart can feel." The title track, fueled by Jones' rumbling pulse, features Murray's funky bass clarinet and the unceasing groove of Drake's drumming. The trio invites us to get up and dance throughout with Latin grooves "Switchin' In The Kitchen" and the tenacious attack of "Necktar." "Rainbows For Julia" parallels Murray's "Flowers For Albert" which he introduced at the young age of 21. Now in his 60s, his sound is easily identifiable and, with his Brave New World Trio, as fresh as ever.

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