David Murray: Gwotet

The traditional "O'teonso" features an introspective solo guitar interlude (vaguely reminiscent of "Nature Boy") following a short unison horn overture that is later reprised at length in a call and response pattern with the percussionist/singers, whose hand-and-stick drum solos ignite an explosive saxophone solo by the leader. Murray's pretty "Ouagaadougou" showcases the composer's bass clarinet on a relaxed airy melody that swings into an up-tempo percussion driven section featuring intertwining guitars and a fiery saxophone duel between the leader and Sanders in which each pours his respective brand of high octane fuel on to an inferno that dissolves in a fade.

Pharoah opens up Murray's instrumental "La Jwa" with some tenor/guitar/percussion interplay that revisits the spirit of his Tauhid album with Sonny Sharrock and Roger Blank. The horn section introduces a soulful guitar solo by Laviso before Murray takes his turn with a well-constructed solo that builds to a gut-wrenching climax. Sembe's "Djolla Feeling" is a tour de force that mixes a conventional African horn chart with modern angular guitar lines that open up a typically bracing Murray solo on which his tenor soars over the grooving rhythms of Shahid, Drake and company.

The Murray-Kiavue composition "Go To Jazz" is an ominous sounding piece featuring a rhythmically rapped chant that contrasts sharply with jazzy trumpet and soprano sax solos. "Ovwa" is an ambient Kiavue composition developed from a traditional piece for mouth drum that features Murray again on bass clarinet. The date ends with an edited encore performance of "Gwotet." The joy and power of this music was clearly evident at Central Park's Summer Stage last month, when Murray brought a slightly different edition of the group with an abbreviated horn section of Craig Harris and trumpeter Omar Kabir for a Sunday afternoon concert that left the appreciative audience sated and elated.