PAUL BLEY QUINTET-BARRAGE
Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 12/26/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"One disc 28 minutes approximately. Digitally remastered. The sound is good and warm,with an openness in the sound. Yes, this is only twenty-eight minutes in length,but the quality of the compositions and the playing demands that anyone who likes "outside" jazz from the era, hear this. All the compositions are by Carla Bley,and stand as some of her finest works of the era. The players,too,are very fine. Besides Bley on piano,Dewey Johnson plays trumpet,Marshall Allen-alto sax,Eddie Gomez-bass,and the great Milford Graves-drums.
Listeners of Sun Ra's music will recognize Allen's name as a long time member(and then leader of)Sun Ra's great band. Having heard quite a bit of this type of music,on both the ESP label and others,this is not so dense as to be impenetrable by most anyone who likes jazz in all it's permutations. This is truly a group effort,with intense weaving of instruments,to more introspective playing with a relative amount of open space between the players. All the tracks are fairly short in duration,which can be either a good thing or not. Long tracks let the musicians play out various themes between them. Shorter tracks are usually(as is here)more intense because the players must say what they have to say in a relatively short amount of time. As always,Milford Graves holds everything together with his fills,no matter if the musical passages are quiet or more intense. His playing always seems to be on a different level,and because of this,he is the rock solid grounding this music demands. He can be heard on many ESP recordings as well as others.
For fans of this type of music,not much more can be said. For others who may be interested in "trying the waters",this is a good place to begin. Don't let the first track throw you off the scent-this music takes time! This is music that demands(and gets) the listener's full attention,and should be played several times in order to fully appreciate it's many qualities. As usual the cover of this recording is up to ESP RECORDS standards and is a good visual artifact from the era. The notes are very short and to the point. For fans of this kind of music,listen to other ESP recordings by the NEW YORK ART QUARTET,and NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL. They are a bit denser in sound,but very satisfying."
