Search - Jack Dejohnette :: New Directions

Fierce and lyrical beauty

Stephen Silberman | SF, CA USA | 11/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great record -- nearly an all-time jazz classic. From the very first chords of "Bayou Fever," you're in a dreamscape created by four brilliant musicians at the very peak of their abilities, and enmeshed in a telepathic quartet setting that brought out the best in them. Abercrombie never sounded better -- he's at his most subtle and oracular here; Lester Bowie sounds like he's infected with some kind of voodoo that Miles himself never came down with; DeJohnette sounds like three guys, but never too busy, always selflessly stoking the groove; and Gomez is perfect here, adding lead notes that haunt the melodies like a voice you can't get out of your head. This is the stuff. The acoustic "Silver Hollow" at the end, after all that swirling blackness, is so beautiful it's almost too much!"