Daniel Carter, Adriana Camacho, Federico Ughi: Trabajadores De Energi

An open conversationalist, active participant, and scion of creativity, forward thinking saxophonist Daniel Carter aims higher than his usual lofty visions on Trabajadores De Energi, easily the umpteenth release of '23 that bears his anachronistic brand.

This free set, recorded in Rome after Carter, cosmic bassist Adriana Camacho, and longtime Carter partner in anarchy, drummer Federico Ughi met in Italy during the Sounds of Freedom international music residency, Trabajadores De Energi opens on a muted, near contemplative tone. Never one to claim sole leadership of any musical alliance or its final direction, Carter sets the warm correspondence forth on the first of two equally compelling performances,"Oltre La Montagna" and "Il Mare." Ughi's ride and splash open the seance, Carter intones a welcoming that Camacho, eager to get into the mix, pulls on hard, her energy a keen match for the veteran outsiders.

Music of this nature, at heart, leaves itself to conjecture, but fortunately, never compromise. So right before Carter takes his stabs and caresses at the piano, Camacho skates and thrumbles amid Ughi's more frenzied vespers, matching Carter and Ughi's thunder and sky with elemental forces of own, instantly aligning herself with a musical brotherhood that Carter and Ughi have nurtured and exercised freely for over two decades.

Carter's exclamatory tones herald "Amanecer" and from there it is anyone's guess. But Carter, Camacho, and Ughi have the answer which they get to in their own sweet, iambic time. There is space and there is repose. There is an affinity to thought, reaction, and invention that could easily shame the tepid actions of most. But that is never the point of Trabajadores De Energi, which proves beyond doubt what high levels of conversation and dialogue are possible, and needed, if one only listens.