专辑简介

by Joslyn Layne

Fred Anderson opens it up with a strong, lyrical solo, and soon bassist Peter Kowald comes in low, followed by the rolling and cymbal-shading addition of drummer Hamid Drake. "Straight, But Not Straight" tells it like it is, both musically and by its very name: it's free jazz that doesn't abstract into "formlessness" -- and even has sections of very straight-ahead, or inside, playing -- yet the detailed development of the piece (over 30 minutes) will be enough to take most straight jazz listeners further outside of their listening territory than is comfortable. The next piece is "To Those Who Know," a suspenseful, restrained ballad in which the trio plays the blues by playing under, over, and around it. The piece is very low-key, with both loveliness and pain, until about eight minutes in, when Anderson's saxophone lets go a heavy stream of notes and Drake drops out, while Kowald switches to a circular-saw bowing. Drake only comes back in on this song for a few, sporadic cymbal accents and hi-hat punctuations. "Multidimensional Reality" -- another long one, clocking in at almost 30 minutes -- starts with a feathery hand-drumming solo by Drake. After a couple of minutes, Anderson and Kowald join in, each translating Drake's finger rolls and hand slaps through the sounds of his own instrument. Then Kowald twists things around by picking up his bow and imitating the sounds of Anderson's imitation and building from there. Before you know it, the trio is in the midst of a lively musical display that melds Anderson's all-out blowing, Kowald's extended techniques, and Drake's skill in hand percussion.