In many ways, this is Murray at his most accessible. Not that it's a bad thing in any way. Pairing him up with the great Ray Anderson is a relevation-Anderson is a musical avant-garde type player. His solos make sense, his ensemble playing rocks and I swear he is having loads of fun, something often lacking in modern jazz. If you are going to get just one Murray record, and that is ill advised, this may be the one to purchase.
Muhal Richard Abrams is likely best known as a driving force behind the hugely influential Chicago co-op the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), but he's also an underappreciated composer. Not unknown by any means — he won Denmark's first Jazzpar Prize in 1990, before the international jury got around to David Murray, Lee Konitz, Tommy Flanagan and Roy Haynes. But Abrams 'orchestra rarely got the attention it deserved in its '80s and… more »
