COMPOSERS: Jack Dejohnette
LABELS: ECM
ALBUM TITLE: Made in Chicago
PERFORMER: Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell (flute, saxophone), Muhal Richard Abrams (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums) etc
CATALOGUE NO: 378 0935
The Chicago free and post-free jazz movement comes home in this live performance from the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival. Its status as a reunion concert – involving some of the music’s most inspired and inspiring practitioners – wouldn’t automatically have been a good thing, as such events can easily dissolve into either complacency or an excess of mutual respect in which everyone leaves so much space for everyone else that very little actually happens.
Happily, this set of five compositions by individual group members and one collective improvisation exhibits nothing other than the full-on creative fire one might expect from such creative musicians, each of whom contributes their individual artistry to a whole which is more than the sum of its parts. The recorded sound is a little sharper than many (even live) ECM recordings, exposing lots of compelling detail. Recommended.
Roger Thomas