Search - George Adams, Don Pullen :: City Gates

A Fantastic Recording

Jason Gubbels | San Diego, CA | 11/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How sad that this wonderful album is so hard to find. I ordered it from a third-party seller a few years back, and it has quickly found a permanent spot on my favorite albums list. Adams is a generous, soulful improvisor with plenty of good humor and an amazing blowing capacity. He swings (literally) between pure melody and free honking, and his flute playing on track 2, "Samba For Now," is sweet and calm. But he's only one reason this cd is so successful. The great Don Pullen plays piano here, as he did on numerous other releases by Adams, with a free-wheeling ability to balance melodic statement with crazy glissandos and octave-spanning comping. This is true "inside-outside" jazz. And if the memorable themes of "Mingus Metamorphosis" and "City Gates" aren't enough to hook you, Adams and Pullen go primeval in an emotionally wrenching and deeply moving rendition of the traditional spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." One of the finest jazz releases of the 1980s, and one for the ages."