CHASING STARS TO THE MOTHER TREE (www.yulugi.com) 7/10 The opening Running on the Red Sand erupts from the speakers with air-raid siren urgency. The piece is a dialogue between Gumaroy Newman’s yidaki and clapsticks and Keyna Wilkins’ flute, and the hurtling rhythmic momentum draws you in as swiftly as a…
Category: Album Reviews
REABSORB (Orenda) 8/10 There are no preliminaries: the blow to the solar plexus is immediate, and once the music has you on the canvas it keeps pummeling you – appropriately enough for a piece called Hit It as Loudly as Possible. It’s not just Jon Armstrong’s blistering tenor saxophone, it’s…
@BREMEN 1964 & 1975 (Sunnyside/Birdland) 9.5/10 In 1964 the fieriest band Charles Mingus ever assembled lobbed in Germany for the first time – and promptly started playing 45 minutes late. The concert (most of which is present on this four-album set) swiftly made up for that, however, being crammed with…