(George Russell, piano & arranger; Don Ellis, trumpet; Dave Baker, trombone; Eric Dolphy, alto sax (& bass clarinet on tracks 2 & 4); Stephen Swallow, bass; Joe Hunt, drums)
This reissue in the remastered/enhanced Keepnew Collection series (I won’t call it 24-bit because almost nothing called that ends up anywhere near 24 bits) comes from 1961 and was the second of Russell’s recordings demonstrating his Lydian Concept of Tonal Organization which he had published in a 1953 book. Arranger, composer and theoretician Russell is a brilliant musical mind who changed the face of part of the modern jazz scene with what became known as modal jazz – exemplified in Miles Davis’ legendary Kind of Blue session.
Readers should know I have my limits in the area of free jazz; Ornette and Cecil are not my favorite listening. However, from its initial release I have found Russell’s first album an absolute delight. This one is right at my borderline of atonalism on some of the tracks, though I really liked the Miles vehicle Nardis as well as his imaginative arrangement of Monk’s ‘Round Midnight. The atonalism is not completely out there, but just based on a different concept of key signature and voice leading. It strikes me as similar to some of the European classical composers who didn’t cave in to Schoenberg’s strict 12-Tone serial system but came up with more accessible tonal variants of their own, such as Toch and Krenek. One of the perks of this album is the roster of sidemen on it. It’s the debut of the great bassist Steve Swallow – called Stephen here. Plus the amazing but short-lived Eric Dolphy, and the superb trumpet player Don Ellis, who was soon to organize his path-breaking big band which incorporated East Indian influences and took unusual time signatures far beyond what Dave Brubeck was doing. The sound is at least as good as a mint copy of the original LP, and you get two bonus tracks in the bargain.
TrackList: Ezz-Thetic, Nardis, Lydiot, Thoughts, Honesty, ‘Round Midnight, Kige’s Tune (takes 2 & 5).
– John Henry
