Alan Wilkinson, John Edwards, Steve Noble
Live at Cafe Oto
★★★★
A wild group of kids who were unleashed into the contemporary jazz atmosphere without any supervision. This is such a loose release, and at many points pretty humorous too. This live performance is intense and smoky, with the existence of the audience known. They don't intrude but you can almost feel the sense of shock their bodies are feeling while witnessing this performance.
Each of the players puts in their most violent but flavorful playing. Although I haven't listened to any of these musicians before this recording, I'm sure seeing them live is something else completely. But really the star of this show is Alan Wilkinson and his saxophone playing. While he isn't doing anything new or extremely unusual, he is taking some techniques and amplifying them to new degrees. Almost to a level of comedy, but he stays challenging and varied. The influence of Dolphy, Coltrane, Ayler, and Ornette are all crystal clear.
The other players are nothing to take for granted either. The drumming is so constant and colorful that it almost has an Art Blakey or Tony Williams feel at times. Although there are also some Afro-Cuban elements to his style too. The bass is probably the darkest and most mysterious instrument on here, Edwards really switches it up from bowed and plucked quite a lot during these forty minutes.
Their playing can range from almost spiritual to a sort of color guard marching band exposition complete with whistles. I say almost spiritual though because while there's this yodeling and vocalization by Wilkinson, I think it's more for the purpose of performance compared to a religious reason. This is a great live recording that challenges you, but it pays off and you have bits of humor along the way that make it interesting throughout.
Favorite Song: Spellbound
Each of the players puts in their most violent but flavorful playing. Although I haven't listened to any of these musicians before this recording, I'm sure seeing them live is something else completely. But really the star of this show is Alan Wilkinson and his saxophone playing. While he isn't doing anything new or extremely unusual, he is taking some techniques and amplifying them to new degrees. Almost to a level of comedy, but he stays challenging and varied. The influence of Dolphy, Coltrane, Ayler, and Ornette are all crystal clear.
The other players are nothing to take for granted either. The drumming is so constant and colorful that it almost has an Art Blakey or Tony Williams feel at times. Although there are also some Afro-Cuban elements to his style too. The bass is probably the darkest and most mysterious instrument on here, Edwards really switches it up from bowed and plucked quite a lot during these forty minutes.
Their playing can range from almost spiritual to a sort of color guard marching band exposition complete with whistles. I say almost spiritual though because while there's this yodeling and vocalization by Wilkinson, I think it's more for the purpose of performance compared to a religious reason. This is a great live recording that challenges you, but it pays off and you have bits of humor along the way that make it interesting throughout.
Favorite Song: Spellbound
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